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THE 

SUPREME ADVENTURE 



BY 
SARAH LOWE TWIGGS 




THE ACADEMY BOOK ROOM 

BRYN ATHYN, PA. 

19 19 






Copyrighted by 

The Academy Book Room 

Bryn Athyn, Pa. 

1919 



OCT Jl ijjj9 



©CI.A5368 77 



REVERENTLY DEDICATED 

TO 

MY MOTHER 



FOREWORD 



This metrical story of the future Hfe, which voices the 
persistent aspiration and unquenchable faith of all the 
ages, also looks beyond the incident of death with the 
bold eye of a soldier of the great war, a member of the 
Foreign Legion and winner of the War Cross who, be- 
fore he was killed in action, wrote thus to a friend in 
his native America : ''Living as we do with death as a 
constant companion has but deepened my conviction of 
something after this life. x\ man's soul must include 
his capacity for action, work, his creative faculties. The 
numbers of young men just on the threshold of their 
creative life — these men, killed, utterly destroyed in a 
second by a few ounces of explosive, have made im- 
possible the belief that all their minds held is definitely 
lost to humanity. I believe that death is followed by 
life as surely as sunset is followed by sunrise, but by a 
life much more closely related to this one than theologi- 
cal dogma would have us believe. All this has taught 
me to regard death as an episode. It has lost much of 
its mystery and all of its terror. I have a curiosity, an 
eagerness, to see and begin the new life, tempered by a 
wish to know this one a little more fully.'' 

It is inconceivable that the mind of this young soldier, 
facing death at the cannon's mouth with a serene phi- 
losophy and even an adventurous curiosity, will not con- 
tinue to function as of old and more perfectly beyond 
his battle-grave. The curiosity he confessed, a natural 



6 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

accompaniment of the ever-enduring desire for immor- 
tality, has been uncommonly active during recent event- 
ful years. The question has come home to men of all 
classes, to the eminent scientist and the humblest day 
laborer : what becomes of the flower of the world's young 
manhood dying in millions on the battle front in all 
their vivid youth, high hope and ripening powers of 
mind, passing in an instant from the great adventure 
of war into the ''supreme adventure" of death? The 
question is old, for it was estimated long ago that more 
than a hundred thousand souls daily pass out of this 
life, but the world war,, adding its daily average of about 
five thousand, has made the question almost new in its 
attention-compelling gravity. It can not be that the vast 
and ceaseless emigrations through the gates of death 
end in a mere pit of night and oblivion. The burrowing 
mole can not see or believe in the stars that shine for- 
ever in the heavens, but man, creation's crowning flower, 
can lift up his mind and heart and see and feel. He can 
knozv that the Power providing this world and all it 
contains — men. animals and vegetation, eternally repro- 
duced in the most marvelous manner — can as readily 
provide the no greater miracle of a different and higher 
realm in harmony with the needs and developed powers 
of the acutely-sentient souls of the so-called dead. 

This look behind the veil of the eschatological realm, 
most fittingly entitled "The Supreme Adventure," is a 
timely response to the yearning questions that have come 
to new life in the states of mind produced by the great 
war, a response the more welcome because it gratifies 
the craving for truth in forms of beauty. Truth in 
idea it is assuredly, if not in all its detail. With high 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 7 

resolve, sustained enthusiasm and a rare gift of ex- 
pression, the author, after years of labor, has produced 
a picture of the world to come eminently sane and logi- 
cal in conception, more human, far more alluring, than 
that of the creed-burdened Milton or the medieval Dante, 
yet no less startling at points in consequence of the 
symbolic representation of evil's deformities which are 
depicted with epic powers of the imagination Aside 
from its gladdening message of hope, and judged merely 
as a work of art, "The Supreme Adventure" will appeal 
widely because of the literary felicities to be found in 
every part of it. Admirable in form, the poem achieves 
the greater merit of being wonderful in idea, delectable 
in its vision of supernal beatitudes., — a noble task well 
done. 

Louis Pendleton. 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE 



PART I 

"Here, on sweet nature's breast, the mother breast. 
Where oft in th' old life's weariness and pain 
He sought repose, 'tis meet he shall awake. 
Fragrant with meadow-bloom his 

grassy couch ; 
The blossomed thorn ringeth with happy biras. 
And the bright sunlight thro leafy riot 
Strained, tingeth witli grateful green this bow 'red 

shade." 

"Aye, nature's freedom for the free ! 
Fairer 

To long captivity of pain this fresh 
Spring woodland, than silk'n chamber 

of a king! 
No stir as yet of his awakening soul?" 

'^Herald e'en now his quick'ned pulse and lighter 
Respiration, its blest approach. 
Sleepeth 

He so like a tired child, th' April zephyrs 
Kissing his gold'n hair, that save for impress 
Of maturer thought, and for his gracious 
Stature, one would not speak him 
as yet past 



10 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

His sunny boyhood. No ling'ring shadow 

Of the weary strife, as in transition 

Oft we see, marreth his peaceful calm. 

Soft! 

The happy moment we await, is here. 

Come nearer, thou sweet-throated thrush, and first 

Be thou to bid him 'Good morning.' " 



In vague, half-conscious dream, the twilight-land 
Of myth and whim, where phantom 

masquerades 
As truth and truth as phantom flits, I heard. 
Or seemed to hear, th' wood-dove's dulcet 

murmur, 
Clearer now, as voices perceived. Zephyrs, 
Spice breathing, swept my cheek, 

the dawning world 
With rosy amethyst suflfused. Then sudd'n 
I awaked, beholding near me gently 
Ministrant, two beings, such as no 

dreaming 
Bard e'er sung, nor art Promethean 

portrayed. 
In glory of ripe manhood's perfect mold, 
The shining seal of wisdom's majesty 
Upon his brow, one more apart thoughtful 
And rev'rent stood. Th' other beside 

me knelt, 
A woman clothed with love's divine and crowned 
In purity so white, my dazzled sense. 
From th' effulgence shrank ; whereat she closer 
In verdant shade withdrew, tho on my heart. 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 11 

Its pulses keeping, her hand still lightly 
Lay. Spell-bound, yet with assuring 

reason 
Hedged, that fevered, unsubstantial vision 
Tricked my sight, I gazed into her azure 
Eyes, minding me of boyhood days when couched 
In meadow grass by limpid brook 

I watched 
The pure in-growing lilies of the crystal 
Under-world, and thro their ever changeful 
Beauty the perfect shining of the heaven's 
Blue. Lest a mere breath, the fair 

phantasie 
Dissolve, I speech essayed not, till my thought 
Divining, she gently spake : 

"No fickle shadows of disordered sense 
Thou dost in us behold, but beings 

human 
And substantial as thyself. The Father's 
Servants we, by His appointment hither 
Sent to minister unto thy need. These 
Blossomed woodlands, teeming with joyous life, 
His pleasant pastures are." 

"My father's ?" I glanced about me. 

"Methinks 
Long illness hath my brain confused that, save 
This billowed field of sweet red clover, naught 
Doth familiar seem." 



12 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

I. 
I breathed a deep and tranquil sigh. 

"So restful 'tis to leave the chambered dark 
And lie here in the blessed sun ! But how 
I hither came, and when, I know not." 

''Nay, thou didst profoundly slumber." 

''Brought sleep's blest angel healing in her wings, 
That I awake so calm and free of pain ?" 

"Aye." 

"Thank God ! Seemeth to me I fell asleep 
At early dawn. Methinks I do recall. 
All weak and spent, the robin's drowsy pipe 
And the faint stir that tells us night 

hath passed, 
And morning come. No more since then — unlcss- 
Was't a dream, or did I hear them weeping 
Say, that I was dying?" 

"Nay, 'twas no dream ! Thou heard'st aright. 
To thee 

In truth the night of pain and sorrow hath 
Forever passed, and morn eternal come !" 

I started, with sudd'n shock. 

"Surely, thou dost not mean I am of that 
Pale band we call 'the Spirit Dead.' " 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 13 

"No bloodless wraiths in this blest land abide, 
But 'tis most true thou hast the mortal dropt 
And put on immortality." 

Msibly agitate, I 'gainst the light 

Held forth my hands, warm, tinctured thro, 

with life's 
Red-coursing tide. Possessed they ne'er before 
This perfect, blue-veined symmetry. Yet, from 
The truth my soul unreasoning recoiled. 

''Looks spirit thus?" 

"Aye." 

"And can it be, I have th' awful portal 
Passed? Hath the grim messenger his sickly 
Victim claimed?'' 

A truant smile, hid in the fringed covert 
Of her eyes, stole forth and dimpled about 
Her mouth, as she replied : 

"Would'st thou behold this gruesome messenger. 
This spirit dread, who thro th' ages hath Earth's 
Dreams affrighted? Come hither, Azrael!" 

At her behest th' august presence, who from 
Our converse had in part retired, drew near; 
And o'er me with protective tenderness 
Inclining, took in his own, my proffered 
Hand, as thus he spake : 



14 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

''She at thy side, and I, of thine own race 
And brethren are who dwell on earth. 
Thence passed 

We e'en as thou, and as the countless hosts 
Of all our planet's dark'ned children. 
Thou seest 

In us a vast angelic order, whose 
Holy office 'tis to loose th' immortal 
Soul from carnal thrall, and here 

thro peaceful 
Slumber loving guard, till the blest moment 
Of awakening to life and liberty 
Eternal. To blinded Earth our dreaded 
Name is 'Death,' but by th' angels we are known 
As 'Life,' since in the vasty universe 
From star to shore there is no death. 
Arise, 

And let us walk these meads, where all that greets 
Th' eye is joyous life. Yon laughing brooklet 
Dancing in the sun, the little playful 
Lambs that browse its banks, glassing 

their fleecy 
Snow like cloudlets in the mirrored blue, call 
Happily to thee. Come!" 

IL 

Dropping his hand, I reached by long habit 
For my crutches, dismayed at the moment 
To find them not. Smiling, and half-ashamed, 
I strove to rise, but thought still 
t' accustomed 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 15 

Uses and conditions bound, restrained me. 
Struggling now with smitt'n hope and faUering faith, 
I backward sank. 

"I cannot rise. A helpless cripple from 
My mother's womb was I, and such am still." 

To my galled sense there seemed a hush 

of bird 
And brook and all sweet sounds of woodland life, 
As tho my bitter words had dropt a blight 
Upon the land. Gently th' angel spake : 

"There are no cripple in our Father's House. 
The crutch thou dost require, is faith in Him. 
Arise !'^ 

Then sudd'n, as thro storm-cloud breaks God's sunshine, 

With efforts less than lightest thought on will 

Imposes, I upright sprang, and in full 

Manhood's strength before them stood. 

Uttering 

A joyous cry, I tossed my arms aloft, 

Stamped on the yielding sod to realize 

My pow'r, and further to test it, swiftly 

Ran, leaping the brook, elastic of foot 

And limb as mountain hart, and bounding back, 

Intoxicate with freedom and aglow 

With life. What transport, to feel 

the heart's wine 
Thrill and sparkle thro its rosy gatew^ays 
To the finger-tips, and know one's self from 



10 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Crown to feet, in every least atomic 
Part, whole, and eternally alive ! Mine 
Eyes with grateful tears were dimmed, 

and I seemed 
To hear again the little leading voice 
Of th' infant choir, whose tiny treble from 
The parish sabbath-school oft stole with breath 
Of lilacs to my window, faint and sweet : 

"Go tell it to Jesus!" 
Deep in the stillness of my soul, I cried 
A great and yearning cry : 

''Where art thou, Lord?" 

A voice, as 'twere within me, answered : 

"Lo, I am with thee alway !" 

By the rude altar of a mossy rock. 
Half-hid in reedy thicket and till now 
Unnoted, I kneeling bowed my burdened 
Heart in thanks-giving and penitential 
Tears. In that veiled holiest, where neath 

the light 
Of God's all searching truth the shrinking soul, 
Naked as the first Adam, and ashamed, 
Stands at his own judgment bar and inmost 
Tribunal, self-accused and self-condemned, 
I saw my blighted and abortive life, 
The lowly vale, wherein 

Eternal Love 
Its holy purpose patient wrought, and from 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 17 

My hapless failures, scarred deep with bitter 
Warfare 'twixt insurgent soul and its gyved 
Impotence, aye, from my dead crucified, 
A Temple Beautiful arose, 

that 'neath 
The Master-Builder's Hand, reared stone by stone 
Its heavenly symmetry, and kissed the stars ! 
Dashed I 'gainst this my mad rebellious will ? 
Strove my finite folly with Omniscient 
Wisdom ? Father, forgive me ! 

Ill, 

Arising from the woodland sacristy, 
I found myself alone with many- voiced 
Nature, who sang for me her old sweet songs. 
Set to a new-strung harp, in key divine. 
Following the brooklet's call, 

I wandered 
Happily its bloom-starred banks, 'mid April's 
Leafy patter, sweet bird-cries, and all sounds 
Of meadow-murmur, that deep'ning the while 
I rambled, merged in a great forest's full 
Symposium of light and song and color. 
Here down green-shadowed aisles that lost themselves 
In rank luxuriance of sylvan splendor. 
The sun, unrivaled artist, sketched with leaf, 
And bough, and spired grass, fantastic 

pictures. 
That ever to lightest breath of wooing breeze 
Blotted their filmy tracery in mad 
Chaotic carnival. Mid varied bloom, 
2 



18 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Enchanting in hue and fragrance, 

that ne'er 
Mayhap found root on earth, flow'rs precious sweet 
To mem'ry my eager exploration 
Greeted, bee-lad'n honeysuckle, gold-belled 
Jasmine, and the scarlet woodbine's 

elfin 
Bugles, that in th' old life's fancy meseemed 
To hear faint thro the young May woodland blowing 
'Neath the magical new moon. 
Reveling 

In that keen joy of Nature, that only 
Her ardent worshippers may know, I thro 
The pathless wild my wanderings pursued. 
Scarce realizing in accustomed plant 
And creature-life th' astounding 

verity 
That this — howe'er incredible it seemed — 
Was undeniably the spirit- world. 
And I a spirit, tho still in every 
Human part a man, naught having lost save 
Bodily affliction. How had 

th' earthly 
Church so widely erred in its abortive 
Conception of the life immortal? 

Where 
In illimitable space, that awful 
Unthinkable expanse, taught in our schools. 
The blest abode of disembodied souls. 
Who wait with gold'n harps 

and alleluias 
Ceaseless, the resurrection of their lone 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 19 

Scattered dust, and final judgment? Yet through 
What agency — of human parts divest — 
They praises yield, was ne'er to our simple 
Faith explained. I glanced at my 

reflection 
In the brook — a goodly form, thank God — then 
Smote my strong palms together, till their redd'ned 
Tissues smarted keen. Was this the bloodless 
Wraith that should e'en now its place 

in ghostly 
Caravan appointed take? Merrily 
I laughed, till all th' echoed wood laughed with me : 
Behind an oak a squirrel startled peeped. 
A proud-winged red-bird in his preening paused 
To scan me thro leafy lattice curious ; 
And where th' ever deepening brook 

its brawling 
Hushed to dimpled stillness, I saw a trout 
Leap like a living jewel in the sun. 
Further beyond, a mossy dell, purpled 
With sweet violets and water-loving 
Iris, whither a great gold butterfly. 
Tacking his silk'n sails, my quest 

preceded. 

IV. 

Oh! glad, exultant life of all things here! 
And how transcending that so late I knew ! 
The whole vast woodland, athrill with nearness 
To the great fount of vital energy, 
And linked to my soul with mystic kinship, 



20 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Seemed throbbing about me, like a mighty 
Heart ! E'en a blue-bell, plundered 

from the grass, 
Glowed brighter to my touch and sweeter breathed, 
As tho its tiny pulses to my thought 
Responsive stirred. Thus, by all-endearing 
Witcheries of nature wooed, 

I followed 
Where in playful fancy the goat-hoofed Pan 
With finger on his lip for silence becked. 
His cherished secrets to my quick-glancing 
Eye and ready ear confiding; 

whither 
In ready covert the blue crane nested, 
Or yellow oriole his airy castle 
Hung; or where the shy arbutus cunning 
Hid from bold marauding bee and rifling 
Honey-bird its shell-pink treasures ; 

oft too, 
Wet dingles wading, t' espy where ghostly 
Indian pipe the marshy hollows haunted 
With its faint perfume. How long I wandered 
Here, in sooth I know not. Time's sickle hung — 
His empire o'er — at gate of this new world. 
But when the thinning forest closed at last 
Its wondrous picture-book, I found 

myself 
Emerged upon an op'n country, greenly 
Undulated with a densely wooded uplands, 
And cleft by a bold river flowing southward. 
Of my unguided rambling, hitherto, 
No care its perfect joy o'ercast; bnt sought 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 21 

I now some well-worn path, that should 

mayhap 
Give guidance. None discerning, anxiety 
Awaked. Sudd'n thro th' echoed hills a boat-horn's 
Winding blast resounded ; and soon from cape 
Of verdant ridge, where flashed the deep current's 
Wrinkled silver, shot out a gala barge, 
White swelling sails a-glitter 

and pennants 
Blue as the vaulted azure flying to breeze. 
My kerchief joyful I waved ; the pilot 
Answered with his boatman's cap, 

and swiftly 
For a landing steered, whither I eager 
Made my way. As thrust the prow — a shining 
Eagle's head — thro nodding osiers,, he leaped 
Ashore. 

V. 

"Welcome ! my lad, thrice welcome ! forgott'n me ?" 

His cheery voice strangely familiar rang. 

**Ah, well ! Contents me that thy hand 1 clasp 
Again ; tho when I held it last 'twas lost 
In my brown palm. My thought forsooth 
Hath much 

Ado, to link with this gracious manhood 
Th' wide-eyed urchin, who listened on my knee 
To old sea tales, and who " 

"Why uncle Jack !" I clasped him in my arms ; 



22 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

His bearded cheek pressed mine. 

A moment thus,, 

Then from embrace withdrawn, each on th' other 

Silent gazed, my gHst'ning eyes, the grey-haired 

Sailor tracing, his, the child. 

''And so the old sea-captain was forgot, 
'Till in thy memory he dropped a spark?" 

"Forgot? Nay, my lexicon of love shows 
Not th' empty word. 'Twas but the counterfoil, 
'Twixt my trusty eyes and faithful mem'ry, 
Confused and baffled both. Small wonder when 
Transformation such as thine, 

confronteth 
Me! Frosted with winter's rime thy scanty 
Locks, when to my greedily devouring 
Ear the stories of thy distant wand'rings 
Thou didst relate. Behold them now! 
Not spring's 

New russet, silkier nor browner ! Then, too. 
Thy sea-dog's cheek, so weather-roughed, didst laugh 
To see 't wince me, no smallest semblance bore 
To this young velvet, that tricked 

and still tricks 
My 'stonished sight." 

He smiled. "The fountain of eternal youth. 
Was not a fiction of De Leon's brain. 
He erred but in the seeking. Its magic 
Waters bubble only here^" 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 23 

"How marvelous," I said, "that thro such change, 
As would methinks identity destroy. 
Is still preserved that subtle seal, 

whereby 
We evermore the man distinguish ! Thus. 
While to glory of thy youth transfigured, 
Art thou in all that was thyself, the same !" 

"Conclusive evidence that soul alone 
Is personality. Tis as thou know'st 
The man himself. Th' earthly body, 

his more 
Or less imperfect cast, drops from the mould. 
Its purpose served, never to be resumed. 
Tho this — his deep grey eyes flashed mirthfully — 
Is not what we were taught. But come ! Our bark 
Impatient chafes the tide." 

VI. 

He laid his hand upon my head, at touch 
Whereof th' old life's memories receded 
Dim and blurred, as mirrored scenes in crystal 
Lake by summer wind o'er-breathed. 

"To meet me didst thou come?'' 

"Aye.'' 

"By chance, I wandered here ; who told thee what 
Myself knew not?*' 



24 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

"Chance is earth's comage and hath no meaning 
Here. Blot it from mem'ry and write instead, 
Divine Providence." 

Unspeakable emotion whelmed my soul ! 
Oh ! What was I, that He, th' eternal King 
Of glory, should remember me? Humble 
And rev Tent, I stepped aboard 

the restless 
Bark, that set now for the purpling hills, spread 
Like a freed carrier her snowy pinions. 
And with us southward sped. Twixt bowered banks, 
Fringed deep with border rushes, 

the river 
Dimpling in light, or darkling to April's 
Coquetry, glassed in its breast the leafy 
Marge, aspen above whisp'ring to aspen 
Below, and willow laving with willow 
In the pulsing tide their pale green tresses. 
Here, too, great oaks stretched coverts cool, 

whither 
The small brown hare limped tim'rous, and white-winged 
Water-birds took refuge from our foaming 
Keel, calling deep-throated to their absent 
Mates. Not earth, I mused, but this fair world 

where 
Broods no shadow of decay o'er budding 
Leaf or dew-pearled blossom, is nature's true 
Domain. Yet much my thought bewildered. 
Whence, 

This happy creature-life I ever loved 
And joyed to greet again? Such, on the earth 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 25 

We were instruct, hath not immortal part. 

Conversely, naught here perisheth. Truly 

'Twas a sphinx-like riddle. 

To my captain 

For solution turning, I met his deep 

Grey eyes observant on me fixed. 

''Methinks," he said, 'T read thy question; though 
Let me first another ask of thee. 
What, 
Was thy chief surprise on waking here?'' 

"Mine answer showeth me a fool confessed. 
'Twas in sooth to find myself a real 
Man within a real ivorld!'' 

"Thou hadst therein much goodly company. 
'Tis the common wonder. Man's conception 
Of his dual nature is thro evil 
Heritance disordered ; and all ideas 
Derived therefrom like verdure 

in this stream 
Reflect, showing inverted. Thence the many 
Falses that warp his judgment, confusing 
Cause with sequence, substance with mere shadow, 
Truth with seeming. So fixed these 

fallacies, 
Vast numbers newly here arrived themselves 
Believe still on th' earth in body carnal. 
Deriding who assure them otherwise 
As tricksters or insane.'' 



26 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

"Much in this life persuadeth such belief. 
Here, as in terrestrial meadows, browse young 
Lambs ; fish glance like irised light in forest 
Streams, and leafy glades with chatter and sweet 
Cries resound." 

"Hingeth thy question here?" 

"Aye ; 'tis a mystery, the key whereof 
I vainly seek." 

"Profound thy quest; yet not in vain. 
The key 

Thou seekest opes the vistaed infinite 
Of knowledge, whither the soul, God-guided, 
Follows, follows, follows, t' eternity! 
Know thou, the creature life we here 

behold 
Is not from earth by resurrection thence, 
But of immediate creation, diff'ring 
No whit from carnal types, save in respect 
To substance. The forms of matter, 

grosser, 
Less instinct with life, and ever subject 
To time and space, have thereby permanence, 
While spirit objects, wholly untrammeled. 
Are instant as thought create, 

appearing 
Or vanishing, according to ordered 
Correspondences with mental states." 

"What meanest by correspondences with 
Mental states?" 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 27 

"The perfect harmony of human soul 
With its symboHc 'vironment. 
Let me 

More lucidly this truth present, since new 
To thee, and earth-mists still thy thought becloud. 

VII. 

All worlds were in creation's morn divine 
Symbols of the Father's love and wisdom, 
Wherein man, mirrored, saw himself th' image 
Of God's glory ; but sin alas ! for earth 
That harmony destroyed, 

good and evil 
Together growing, and cruel with kindly 
Basking in equal freedom 'neath God's sun. 
Impossible to spirit spheres 

this state 
Discordant, since by eternal fiat 
Of like to like they live and have their being. 
Nor, as in carnal life, are nature's forms 
Produced, or re-produced, by seed and growth. 
Instant from divine thought they do appear, 
Tho by Omniscient Wisdom 

mediately 
Create thro spirits who, all unconscious 
Of their divine agency, their mental 
States in corresponding forms harmonious 
Project." 

"Dost mean to say this scene is from myself 
Evolved !" 



28 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

"Aye, in least jot and tittle. This river, 
Touched here and there with silv'ry light, 

God's truth 
In thy receptive mind declares, and these 
Young mountain cedars, thrusting their eager 
Roots beside the living waters, thy thirst 
For spiritual knowledge show. 
The reedy 

Shallows bord'ring our winding way, evils 
And fallacies denote, sown in th' earth-life 
Of thy soul, tho lightly there embedded. 
This boat, as that wherein the Master taught. 
Doth doctrine typify ; birds, thy winged 
Thought and active intelligence 

bespeak ; 
Lambs, thy guileless love ; and other creatures 
Of this wild, affections natural." 

''Oh ! light that on mine earth-dulled vision breaks, 
Thrilling my soul with wonder ! 
As from some 

Heavenly Pisgah, behold I all things new. 
And luminous th' answer of that mystic 
Sympathy 'twixt man and nature that e'er 
Till now my wistful soul eluded !" 

"Well may'st thou marvel ; for in this law 
Thou seest creation's basic principle. 
The magic key to all its harmonies." 

''Clearly 'tis in myself made manifest. 
But what of thee? Hadst thou not also here 
Thine own fair representatives?" 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 29 

"Only so far as certain of these types 
Included me with thee. Close our psychic 
Kinship ; and for this cause, He, who all things 
Knoweth and directeth, did me unto 
This joyful ministry appoint. 
Thy fair 

Fraternity, whither we swiftly skim 
These silver waves, was also mine, till called 
Thence by our Father to another sphere. 
Whose soul-estates may not upon this plane 
Expression find." 

*Ts not this heaven?" 

'' 'Tis the lowest or most external sphere 
Thereof, related to angelic heaven 
As a vast spiritual Alma Mater, 
Where such as may be, are for their highest 
And holiest prepared. Enter 

daily here 
The countless multitudes, good and evil, 
Who pass from earth, and here by unerring 
Law of like to like gravitates each soul 
To that which represents its own. 
The Heaven 

Of our dreams and highest aspirations 
Is not one sphere where all the blest abide, 
But kingdoms twain. Of these 

beatitudes 
The first is known as Spiritital Heaven, whose 
Angel hosts effulgent shine from Holy 



30 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Truth; while of Celestial glory they, whose 
Deep implanted innermost is Love." 

**Alas!" I faltered, "from contemplation 
Of sucli heights sublime shrinks my unworthy 
Soul aghast ! The thought of all God knoweth 
Me to be, yet all I must be 

ere dare 
I to His holy mountains lift mine eyes, 
Appalleth me ! Oh ! barren, barren years. 
That lived aright had yielded at last through 
Weariness and pain a better harvest !" 

I turned my agitated face away. 

While darkling shadows swept the river's breast, 

And the sweet birds grew silent. 

VIII. 

"Why troublest thy heart with vain repinings? 
Thou canst not one poor moment of thy past 
Recall, far less remould ; neither unto 
Thy stature smallest measure add, 

nor take 
Therefrom. Then struggle not in the Divine 
Arms about thee, and seek not of thyself 
To build this temple of thy soul. Belongs 
That holy work to God alone. 
Grow thou 

As lilies of the field, lifting thy soul's 
Chalices to heaven's sun and dew, leaving 
The rest to Him/' 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 31 

"Thou comfortest me still as when, a child, 
I wept in pain upon thy breast." 

"Thou art no more a pensioner of pain ; 
The morn of thy rejoicing is here." 

E'en as he spake, the shadows fled; the birds. 
Took up again their happy song, and faint, 
As from distance borne, came floating sweetly 
O'er the hills a chime of merry bells, that 
In my heart responsive music made. 

''Whence," I asked, "the joyous chimes?" 

"Greetings they from thy fraternal order, 
To new arrivals from our earth. Yearneth 
Thy heart thither?" 

"Aye! but since I know thy mission endeth 
There, gladly would I our journey lengthen. 
The bells ring far away." 

"We reckon not distance here, as on th' earth," 
He smiling said. "For tho horizons still 
The sense deceive, and mental states impress 
Us still with thought of time, as long or short, 
Moments or aeons, 'tis but illusion. 
The soul's desire, its sole 

chronometer. 
One little pulse-beat, leaping impatient 
For thy journey's close, had proved thy swiftest 
Transit." 



32 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

**Oh! wonder-world, more marvelous than aught 
Conceived in fabled story !" 

"Thy feet scarce touch as yet the border-land 
Of all its marvels and its mysteries." 

''Fully this I realize as also, 
By contrast, my fathomless vacuity." 

"Who are the wise? Angels of celestial 
Heaven are but in lesser ignorance than 
Thou. Much knowledge is in this life 

connate. 
Thus, the language thou speak'st was not acquired ; 
Instant to thy lip it sprang, as heaven's light 
To eye or breath to lung !" 

''This language! Speak I another tongue?" 

"Aye, that to spirit universal ; though 
No consciousness hadst thou of lingual change. 
Thou canst not now, one word of thine 

old speech 
Recall ; 'tis in thy mem'ry quiescent ; 
And only the Father, when He willeth. 
May that forgotten knowledge re-awake.". 

"Wonder upon wonder ! Are we by means 
Of schools instructed here?" 

"Aye, schools numberless, and various; 
many, 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 33 

Tow'ring- o'er the hills in stately beauty. 
Visible afar, and unseen temples 
Of the secret soul, whose altared holies 
None may enter, save the Divine Teacher 
And Master-Builder : for gain we not heaven 
By knowledge of God's truth alone, 

nor climb 
We wisdom's starry infinite, save w'hen 
Love, truth's wedded partner, leadeth/' 

*'How diff'rent 'tis on earth ! There, intellect 
Is king, and knowledge pow'r ; while love 

oft-times 
With ignorance in lowly cottage dwells." 

"True ; many famous on earth as mental 
Prodigies are on arrival here more 
Stupid demonstrate than densest hind ; 

while 
Oft this is reversed. Instructing angels 
Quickly the cause perceive, in dearth of love. 
Or its supremacy. Thus is fulfilled 
The prophecy of Holy Writ : 

^To him that hath shall be given, 
And to him that hath not 
Shall be taken azcay even that 
Which he hath.' " 



IX. 



I looked into his eyes, thrilling with sudd'n 
Light of revelation. 
3 



34 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

"I thank thee for illumining an old 
Perplexity. Is study of the Word 
A part of our instruction here?" 

He smiled. "Study of the Word by Divine 
Science, that is th' internal key thereof, 
Is the chief purpose of the schools." 

"Naught knew I in the former life of this 
Internal sense." 

"Few Christians enter this life with other 
Than thine own experience. Yet the new day. 
Long prophesied in Holy Writ, the day 
Of the Lord's fulfilled promise 

to His church, 
Hath even now begun. The great trumpet-blast 
Of dispensation new hath heaven sounded, 
But Zion, who from her lofty watch -tow'rs 
Should first the joyful tidings speed, 

stirs not 
As yet, neither doth she recognition 
Manifest." 

"Alas! How may this be? Wherefore responds 
She not to this new glory, that should 

th' whole 
Christian world electrify?" 

"When, without a fierce and bitter struggle, 
Hath Divine Truth upon our hapless globe 
Its holy ends accomplished? 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 35 

But deeper 

Than this, thine answer. Th' old apostolic 

Church is slowly dying. Seeing she 

perceives not, 
Nor hearing understands." 

I started visibly. "Ah! say not so! 

The church of my love and faith, the church 

Christ 
Planted on our earth, dying?" 

' 'Tis true. But grieve not for ordination 
Of Divine Love and Wisdom. Time, 

to thought 
Infinite, its cycled courses marketh, 
As in creation's day, earth's morn and ev'n. 
Of these one hath latterly 

its cycle 
Ended, ushering a new age of pow'r 
And great glory. Aye, old things are passing 
With a day that's past, and dispensation 
New flusheth with rosy-mantled sunrise 
Our planet's mountains. For the grand 

old 'Ship 
Of Zion,' bless we her holy Founder ; 
But her work is done, her mission ended. 
Beat'n and torn by tempests of conflicting 
Faiths, divided (prophetic) 'gainst herself, 
And wrenched from anchored fastness 

to totter 
In rocky shallows of man-made doctrine, 



36 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Serves she no longer purpose Eternal. 

The shadowed even of her day hath closed." 

Mcetlno- my startled eyes, he gently asked: 

"How in thy carnal life didst thou receive 
The Scriptures?" 

''As the holy inspired Word of God ; yet 
As a veiled Shekinah of mysteries, 
Inscrutable. Enough, methought, of what 
Is plainly writ giveth He for daily 
Food. The rest, wait we patient till He come." 

"Discerned thy faith wisely, tho e'en as they 
Who with the Master journeyed, 

knowing Him not, 
So pondering in thine heart these things, stood He 
Before thee as th' op'n Word unrecognized," 

I started, as from thunder-shock. 

''What meanest thou?" 

"That He, as promised, hath to earth His second 
Advent made. Not, as the blinded church still 
Watcheth for Him, hath He in visible 
Humanity appeared, but in 

th' wondrous 
Out-pouring of His Spirit on our Globe, 
Revealing the hidd'n treasures of His Word, 
And quick'ning with mighty influx of new 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. ^'^ 

Thought all avenues of human 

progress, 
'Stabhshmg thereby a new Hegira 
Of His holy Truth hath He, as promised, 
Descended in power and great glory." 

'Yet, of His coming is the promise, that 
In 'the clouds of heaven' we shall behold Him." 

"Aye, and 'tis fulfilled. Spake He not unto 
Them save in parables. By 'clouds of heaven,' 
He typified the darkness of the Word's 
Literal, wherein are veiled the glories 
Of its spiritual sense. Let me 

from these 
Obscurities thy vision clear. The Book 
Of books, like every work that cometh forth 
Of its Divine Author, is patterned trine, 
And writ as the volume of creation 
In forms or symbols of His Infinite. 
Of its most holy trinity 

is first 
The letter' or historic narrative. 
Here folded and interfolded. belike 
Two priceless jewels, each in its ordered 
Casket precious closed, deeper 

and holier 
Significations of the literal 
Are shrined, in wisdom inconceivable. 
These — as in spheres of trinal heaven, whereto 
They correspond — are oped, 
as seeth the Lord's 



38 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Omniscient Providence, we may receive. 
For be 't known to thee, that mind or spirit 
Hath also three distinctive planes, 

whereby 
They are receptive of these life-degrees ; 
Lower, that correspondeth to the Word's 
Literal and also to this basic 
Sphere; higher, with internal spirit sense 
Or second degree of heaven ; 

and highest, 
With sense innermost or heaven's celestial 
Holiest. Existeth this order for sake 
Of heaven's inflowing life whereon man's vital 
Breath depends, and which must e'en thro 

symbols 
Of the divine to him descend. The soul's 
Receptiveness of these degrees its state 
Or quality determines. Heaven's angels 
Instant this perceive, in voice, countenance, 
Or gestures." 

"Joyful, these truths I hail, as one groping 
Befogged to light emergeth. 'Twas ever 
To me a mystery that God to man 
A Book of Life should give, 

the greater part 
Whereof is to his understanding closed. 
In light divine, what pygmies we!" 

"Openeth He the Book of Life according 
T' our need. Milk of the literal for babes 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 39 

In truth. Meat of the Spirit, for the soul's 
Manhood, and for an-hungered on Caanan's 
Verge, who do with op'n vision heaven 

behold. 
Celestial manna. In that fair morning 
Of our race, renowned as 'the gold'n age,' man 
Blest communion with heaven enjoyed, Angels 
Thence to him God's mandates bearing. 
But sin 

Alas ! that pure estate destroyed, thereby 
Heaven closing. Yet ceased not revelation 
To His fall'n children, for He of holy 
Men inspired servants made 

and with His pow'r 
Clothed. Earth hath outgrown her childhood. 
Th' advent 

Of lordly reason hath blind faith displaced, 
Contenting not itself with garbled truth 
Of Zion's nurseries. Man, son and heir 
Of God, must know his heritance ; and He, 
Whose times fail not, who reck'neth 

the bursting 
Bud, the robin's mating call, the nestling 
Eaglet's flight, hath answered." 

'Pray we the hasting of that joyful day, 
When this new light shall blaze triumphant thro 
The world! But how may Christ find faith 

on earth, 
While man with all his lofty claims is yet 
The slave of carnal brutishness? Brother 
'Gainst brother striveth still for selfish gain. 



40 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

And war's dread scabbard gory reeks, 

thro lands 
Whose altars proudly show the Christian's cross." 

"Aye, sadly true; but maketh God all things, 
Yea, e'en hell itself, to serve Him. 
Behind 

The dripping plowshare walks unseen th' angel 
Sower, and souls anointed watch prayerful 
The patient building stone by stone of that 
New Church th' inspired seer beheld descending 
Out of heaven." 

X. 

"Alleluias to his holy name ! 
What 

Sign and seal hath He unto the nations 
Given, whereby they shall Him know as very 
Christ r 

''The re-op'ning to man of a divine 
System of Spirit-law, known to him once 
As the Science of Correspondences 
Or Spirit Causes: but lost with his blest 
Estate, a forfeiture of sin. 
Flickered 

Its dying spark in Pharaoh's day, when evil 
Magic vaunted its false thunder and mocked 
Omnipotence with sin-wrought miracles, 
Relateth it to Science natural 
As heaven t' earth, or soul to carnal body. 
By its all-comprehensive laws 
w^ere planned 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 41 

And wheeled in space the starry host, and framed 

In its Hght supreme that shining ladder 

Of ascending and descending angels 

'Twixt earth and heaven, the Holy Word. 

Came forth 

Of its Divine — as fabled Pallas from 

The riv'n God-brain — the science of numbers, 

And that mystic chirography of spheres, 

Astrology. The finite mind may not 

Conceive it, nor its illimitable 

Deep explore. Thus, 'tis to universal 

Heaven a vistaed infinite of knowledge. 

The lore of angels to eternity. 

Only so much is now to earth 

revealed, 
As doth The \\'ord's internal spirit-sense 
Interpret. Yet, as the fleeting ages 
Roll, man purified shall more and ever 
More of heaven receive, till that new day when. 
Thro the Word's celestial sense, God's kingdom 
Shall again to His bereav-ed children 
Ope, and men, as in life's rosy-mantled 
Dawn, commune with angels." 

"Meanest by 'His children' all uiank'mdf 

"Aye, all in love of Christ unite." 

Silence pregnant with thought between us fell, 
While, like wing of some dark bird, a shadow 
Swept my soul. 



42 • THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

"Breaks the new light of heaven's truth o'er the dread 
Mysteries of hell ? Reads the dark riddle 
How the infinitely loving Father 
Dooms to eternal penalty of woe 
His erring children whom in 

fore-knowledge 
He did create, and in the lowly flesh 
As Jesus died to save ? 'Gainst th' inhuman 
Creed ever mine inmost soul revolted 
And wrestling reason strove. 
Seeking in vain 

To reconcile God of eternal love 
And mercy with eternal hell, I said, 
'Let every man a liar prove, hut God 
Be true! There is no hell!'' 

"So hath skepticism, bred of doctrines false, 
Sucked the warm life-blood of the church ! 
Never, 

Since flamed this planet from creative thought, 
Hath God one sin-perverted soul, tho warped 
Thereby from human semblance, doomed to hell ! 
Oh ! blinded blasphemy of ignorance ! 
Such dogmas; worthy alone 

of fetich 
Savage, whose vengeful Deity, a fierce-fanged 
Wolf, ravens all dripping- jawed ; vanish thank 
God! in light of His new-reveal-ed truth." 

"Who then consigns unto that dread abode 
Their wretched habitants?" 

"Themselves !" 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 43 

'Thou canst not mean that of free will they choose 
Their lot?" 

''Aye, of free will. Man, ere his tenement 
Of clay forsaking", chooseth by the love 
That moulds and dominates his soul, for heaven 
Or for hell. No awful bar, 

nor irate 
Judge, with fateful record waits the trembling 
Sinner, but writ on mem'ry's eternal 
Tablets, his Book of Life, and faithful there, 
In form of his afifections mirrored, stands 
To himself revealed. Falls on his 

shrinking 
Ear no dread anathema nor final 
Word of doom. Such in Scripture, the fiery 
Symbolic shadows, 'twixt opposing states 
Of good and evil. Thus, the soul's ruling 
Love, its own tribunal ; and by 

primal 
Law magnetic, that atom weds t' atom. 
Orb t' orbit, each its true affinity 
And inmost kinship ever finds, sounding 
Instinctive and unerring the keynote 
Of responsive life. Beings there are, 

breed hate,, 
And glut voracious maw on human bane. 
Nurtured as that ancient king on poisons, 
They poisons still for life and breath require. 
Lungs, long inured to dungeon damp, 

collapse 
On mountain top, and hearts with lava-tides 



44 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Of lusts aflame beat sluggish in God's sun. 
So, like to like, the law of spirit-life,, 
And hell, in light of truth revealed, 

showeth 
Equally with heaven God's tender mercies 
And His loving care." 

XI. 

"Thou sweep'st th' old perplexity, as cobwebs 
From my brain ! Yet, comprehend I not how 
The same Hand that formed th' earth, and stretched 

the heavens 
Out, glory above glory fashioning. 
That love may evermore its holy law 
Fulfil, also a dwelling-place prepares 
Where evil shall on its own corruption 
Batten. 'Tis not conceivable that God 
Provides for sin?" 

"Nay, He provides for sinner, not for sin. 
On mountain crag, from human haunts afar, 
The lonely vulture nurtures her dark brood. 
Tiger and spotted pard lap new-shed blood 
In desert sands, or stealthy in jungled 
Ambush wait th' unwary victim. 
In foul 

Morass, where sullen shadows bat-like cling, 
And vapored pestilence spreads phantom pall, 
Toads croak and venomed serpents 

hissing glide. 
So, in one universal loom of law, 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 45 

All creatures, small and great, evil and t^ood. 
Their fitting vesture find, and hell, whatc'cr 
Its unimagined horrors, is alas! 
The self-appointed state 

and livery 
Of sin-distorted souls, whose vital parts 
May in no other sphere their uses serve. 
The psychic cells formed exquisite as flow'rs, 
And cupped as they for constantly 

inflowing 
Life, in childhood's innocency heaven-ward 
Turn ; but evil this primal order doth 
Invert with sequence deadly ; and spirits 
Infernal would, to heaven's reflexive light 
Exposed, extremest sufifering 

endure. 
A habitant of hell I once o'erheard 
His Maker blasphemous arraign, claiming 
Foul-mouthed and insolent, entrance to heaven's 
Gates. For his instruction, tho urgent 'gainst 
His violence and folly warned, 

a guide 
Was for his conduct thither straight despatched ; 
But ere on distant verge billowed in light 
God's holy mountains, the hapless spirit 
Laboring respired, pains racked his failing 
Joints, his limbs convulsive writhed, 

and reeling 
With gasping outcry he to his own place 
Plunged headlong." 

''Dread retribution." 



46 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

"Yet madly persistent, essay these bold 
Rebellious spirits — oft artful disguised 
As heaven's angels — to invade the highest. 
Sin is a serpent, venom-blind, that doth 
In its own flesh its fatal fangs 

infix; 
And pleasure infernal is the monstrous 
Sire of infernal pain." 

XII. 

"All luminous I now behold hell's dark 
Enigma ! Oh ! science of sciences 
Transcendent ! Light Divine ! wherein false creeds 
And superstitions vanish, as twilight 
In resplendent day. Athirst for knowledge 
Pf this wondrous truth drink I thy discourse. 
Conscious that what I erst as truth esteemed 
Was but its empty shell. In sooth, 

not light 
Thy gracious task, would'st sow this arid waste ; 
For scarce has thou one knotty problem solved, 
When straightway from its false precipitate 
Arising another doth confront me." 

He smiled into mine eyes, amused. 

" 'Tis joy to share with thee such heavenly food, 
As canst thy soul assimilate ; but chafe 
Not, thou nestling eaglet, for heights beyond 
Thy cairn. What now thy quest ?" 

''Elucidation of an old problem. 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 47 

By thine argument provoked, that vexeth 
Me the more, since in no brook I pebble 
E'er have found, that smites not Zion, 

rather 
Than her crafty foe. Clearly thou showest 
That we on earth our choice pre-determine 
For good or evil, heaven or hell. 
Just here, 

Goliath cometh to mock with weaver's 
Beam, my helplessness. How reconcilest 
Man's free agency with all the startling 
Inequalities of life that plainly 
Some to good incHne, others to evil? 
Instance myself. Of godly 

parentage, 
Unto the Master's service consecrate, 
Was I in holy love begot. Zion's 
Baptismal waters blessed my birth, her songs 
Mine infant wailings hushed on mother breast. 
'Twere out of nature had I from 

heavenly 
Paths revolted, where angels of the home 
Guided my steps to manhood. Yet, teemeth 
Earth with children begot of lust and crime ; 
Who on the drunk'n wanton's breast draw 

venomed 
Milk, and on whose baby brows the father's 
Soul hath stamped,, ah ! Christ ! his loathly image. 
Shaped by ancestral chisel, as primal 
Earth by cataclysmic fires and glacial 
Plow, orbital to evil, as whirling 



48 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Planet to elliptic plane, what 

freedom 
Of choice have they, enslaved by that whereof 
Their very life and substance is a part 



0" 



"Judge not by that which seems. Tis 

the fatal 
Lure of falsity. Fix in thy mind this 
Basic truth. Man, by his dual nature, 
Is at birth in equUibrium 'twixt 
Heaven and hell. Tho son of man, 

forget not, 
He is also,, son of the living God! 
Inheriteth his soul the fatal seed 
Of sin and death? Another heritance 
Is his, of righteousness and life! 
Tempted, 

Is he of devils? Holy angels watch 
His slumber and his erring footsteps guide. 
Thus the soul is launched on its eternal 
Voyage free! Oh ! matchless creative wisdom, 
That hath fore'er man's liberty ordained ! 
To fetter the will, with touch e'en 

lighter 
Than summer zephyr, were to shrivel that 
By which we are made heirs of love, and pow'r. 
And glory ; to sink the divine image 
To level of a poor automaton. 
And roll before the door of life a stone 
That bars development, 

and sepulchers 
Our hope ! What knoweth th' old philosophy, 



THE SUPREME ADJ'EKTVRE. 49 

Of spirit and its constituted laws? 
How,, then, may it predicate of that which 
Forms the 'hfe and substance' of th' immortal 
Soul? But "mid our earth's outgrown and passing" 
Systems hath a light sprung up ; 

a new note 
Sounded. The voice of one in wilderness 
Of dark'ned science crying, a way preparing 
For coming truth, and thrilling rejoicing 
Angels with his inspired words : 
■'''Love is the life!' 

Apply now to mine argument this truth. 

Baptized on earth and sealed in heaven. 

Clearly 

Shalt thou perceive that naught is of the soul 

A living part, evil or good, save that 

It thro desire weds, and makes its z'ery 

Ozun. All with the ruling love 

at variance 
Drops at doorway of this world, as withered 
Leaves from spring's new-vestured green. 
Thus, whate'er 

The soul loveth, is its life and substance. 
And ivill, enthron-ed monarch of the mind, 
Is th' immortal man! Thou hast thy pebble." 

"Say rather a flaming sword of heaven's truth, 
Wherewith thy wisdom hath mine ignorance 
With power girded. Yet grief and horror 
Whelm my soul, with thought of God-defying hosts. 

^Herbert Spencer. 
4 



50 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Who choose — sin-madd'ned — death of all 

good and truth, 
Rather than life eternal. A charnel 
Limitless of spirit dead ! Oh ! martyi ed 
Christ ! And shall the ghastly Hinnom ever 
Reek 'neath heaven's jasper and the gates of pearl 
Shall hell's unruly prodigals 

never 
To the Father's House lift penitential 
Eyes ; and human woe, a bleeding, unhealed 
Wound, forever scar the Saviour's breast ? Nay, 
Reason cries impossible!" 

XIII. 

"With Him who 'op'neth and no man shiitteth, 
Who shutteth and no man ofneth; is thine 
Answer. Angel, nor flaming archangel. 
No more of hell's dark mystery may know 
Than thou. Hold many in heaven 

eternal 
Durance of the life infernal, basing 
Their arguments on law immutable 
Of course and sequence. Others, in equal 
Light, this reasoning oppose. 
What, argue 

They, know heaven's wisest of that infinite 
iVdjustment of th' atomic universe 
To principles of order we define 
As law ? Who hath that limitless profound 
Explored? ]\Ieasure we upon 
our finite 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 51 

Reel the measureless ? Prescribe we His ways, 
Or by what means He shall His holy ends 
Accomplish? Ag^ain, with more aggressive 
Argument ; shall He, whose name is Love, whose 
Thought is Light, who, ere first 

luminary 
Flamed in space, held in hollow of His hand 
Creation's divinely patterned purpose, 
The countless hosts of human souls ordain, 
To whom the precious gift of life must prove 
The seal of doom? But from another point 
The question still pursuing ; if evil shall 
With stubborn will forever God resist. 
Then plainly is His Kingdom 

rent in twain, 
His sovereignty eternally defied, 
And Love's last sacrifice for all mankind, 
A failure that should quench the very stars 
With weeping, and shroud the universal 
Host of suns in sackcloth. To this belief 
Yield I allegiance." 

"And I mine own. But what of another 
Creed on earth advanced, annihilation 
Of the wicked ?" 

"No basis doth it for controversy 
Offer. Man's spirit, divinely kindled. 
Cannot die! But granting for argument 
The contrary, who may creative God 
A trifler with His pow'r conceive, 
breathing 



52 rilE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Out souls as human bubbles, to watch them 
Drift a moment in His sun, then vanish 
In nothingness? Thus, howe'er from premise 
True or false, the question we pursue, one 
Answer, swift as sunlight, 

itself presents. 
The final triumph of good o'er evil, 
And heaven, the destination of every 
Human soul! Aye, tho divine attainment, 
Governed by eternal law, its misty 
Perspective lengthen, as earth's creative 
Birth-throes, thro hoary ages! 
Thus, I read 

The deep celestial innermost of that 
Blest story so divinely told, the son 
'Who was dead, and is alive again! ivho 
Was lost, and is found!' '' 

"Oh! Glory of redeeming love! If God 
Be God, it must be so!" 

XIV. 

The while we spake, the river deflecting 
From its course, as 'twere of idle dalliance 
Impatient, thrust wide its leafy 

barriers. 
And broad'ning majestic to the billowed 
Verge, whitened the base of blue perspective 
Cliffs with flying batteries of jettied scud. 
As in full view we fronted, a sudd'n cry 
Escaped me . 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 53 

"Behold!" said my guide, "the terraced headlands 
That mark our journey's close. Fair subsides 
Are they of th' Elysian Highlands, 

pictured 
In Zion's dreams and songs as 'Beulah-land.' 
Follow to thy right yon zone of hazy 
Chrysoprase and violet. The flaming 
Points thou seest are thy city's sun-kissed spires.'' 

I traced, subconsciously, the star-pricked space, 
Revolving in my thought a mystical 
Experience. Presently, I said : 

"Impossible as doth it seem, this view 
In all its least details is to mine eyes 
Familiar." 

"How so?" 

"Naught save the startling truth I know 
that years 
Agone 'twas on my mental camera 
Impressed in what methought a dream 
V^ainly 

I sought to re-produce from memory 
The picture. Approacheth not gross matter 
Tints ethereal." 

"Regardest th' experience phenomenal? 
Resultant 'tis of our dual nature. 
Occurring oft in sleep, tho misnamed dream. 
On earth we are co-habitant of two 



54 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Distinct, yet closely correspondent 

worlds,. 
Intimate relate as soul and body, 
Tho consciousness — save in conditions rare — 
Extendeth but to one. Of common clay 
And fire divine are we, and oft, 

in sleep's 
Blest ministries th* immortal part, briefly 
From carnal thrall released, wanders afar 
In native Vironment;, happy in states 
And scenes beyond our lower ken. 
Waking, 

We say: 'I dremned.' Many, sleep's agencies, 
Howbe't th' external only are to man 
Made known. Science its healing doth confess, 
While naught of its magic cause divining. 
'If he but sleep' — ofttimes th' anxious 

watchers 
Say — *He may recover ;' discerning not, 
The latent principle, that slumber's trance 
The carnal hold relaxeth, 

and the soul. 
In fuller receptivity of heaven's 
Eternally inflowing life, is thereby 
Re-infused, kindling anew the wasted 
Fires of its earthly tenement." 

''Oh ! tender providence of angel sleep. 
Blessing alike spent body and captive 
Soul ! Descendeth here also the heavenly 
Benison ?" 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 55 

'Aye, tho not on aching limbs and weary 
Eyes, as in the lower life, nor with fixed 
Rule of alternating- day and night. 
Sleep, 

In this probationary sphere, the soul's 
Twilight is, wherein obscure perception 
Of divine truth ever precedeth dawn 
Of clearer spiritual light and larger 
Capacities for heaven's descending life. 
Thus, 'tis a transition state ; 

the happy 
Harbinger of birth and change. Here, where time 
Is not, and moments or countless ages. 
But the pulse's beat, day is the shining 
Sun of love's effulgence ; night, the chill, black 
Pall of its extinguishment. 

The spirit 

World is nature's birthplace, and all her sweet, 

Endearing changes, rose-flushed dawn, the young 

Morn's jeweled beauty, noontide's resplendence. 

The dying altar-fires of slow declining 

Day, and evening's star-tipped 

introspective 
Veil, while in this purer atmosphere more 
Vividly by far than on th' earth portrayed. 
Are ever symbolic lights and shadows 
Of the soul's transit around our central 
Sun, th' Eternal King of Glory. 
Thus, with 

Clime and seasons. Heat and cold gradations 
Of the affections indicate. Planes we find — 



56 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

As in terrestrial zones, — where one may drive 
In sleds thro wintry snows ; cull fruit and flow'rs 
Of tropic lands, or dreamy with 

turbaned 
Arab sit, 'neath plumy palm, where wide-eyed 
Stars thro tented azure gaze on Islam's 
Glowing sands." 

''On Islam's sands? Dwell tribes and nations here 
Distinct, as on the earth?" 

''Aye, tho situate according to their 
Truths of faith ; Christians, central, 

more or less ; 
The rest, circumferent in order. All 
Races and peoples of our motley globe 
Do here — for a term, by wisdom of our 
Lord prescribed — their propaganda, civil. 
Social and religious 'stablish, while such 
As may be, are for heaven prepared." 

"Astonishing f 

''Nay, how so? All worlds, are for creation's 
Crown and glory (man) ordained. 
Shall He, who 

Nature to her needs adjusted, water 
For her finny tribe, th' airy ambience 
For bird, and earth for higher structured forms. 
Neglect for souls immortal 
a like care? 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 57 

We are not instant of earth's mem'ries stript, 
Too close upon her mother-breast our hfe 
We drew for so swift weaning ; wherefore 

thought 
Natural accustomed ideas and scenes 
Project, till mental change and altered state 
Their corresponding new environment 
Beget. Nathless, not all their former life 
And local habitude renew. 
Some souls 

Earth's mantle lightly wear, and lightly cast ; 
Thoughts and affections spiritual 

rather 
Than terrestrial reflecting. Such are here 
To cities of instruction led, where seeth 
Divine Wisdom they shall most readily 
To truth unfold. Central of these is yon 
White city, whither by strong 

magnetic 
Forces we are drawn. Blazoned in lettered 
Light, upon its harbor-gates, the motto 
Of thine order : 

'Behold I make all things neiv! " 

"Writ in light? How gloriously typical!'' 

"The Holy Word, and all therefrom inscribed. 
Shine in this life from Truth efifulgent, 
Seest 

\\\ yon violet expanse one central 
Point of light, as 'twere a star of heavenly 



58 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Magnitude? 'Tis thy city's chief Temple 
Of devotion, illumined by the Word 
Alone." 

Thrilling with rev'rent awe, I seemed to hear, 
Thro beat of billowed surges on a lone 
Sea-girt shore : 

''And the city had no need of the sun, 
Neither of the moon, to shine in it, 
For the Glory of God did lighten it, 
And the Lamb is the light thereof." 

XV. 

Some moments passed ere converse we resumed ; 
Then I unto my guide: 

"What diff'rence radical, other than that 
Thou hast already shown, existeth 'twixt 
Th' old church and the new?" 

"The diff'rence is in all things radical. 
Fruit, unsound at core, is throughout unsound ; 
And basic error is superstructed 
Doom. Instance, the doctrine of Redeeming 
Love, whereon the Christian's faith 

is founded. 
Obscurely by th' old church comprehended. 
And warped from its Divine significance 
To meet a false theology, 'tis more 
A pagan immolation to justice 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 59 

By one of three co-equal Deities, than 
The sublime deliverance of sin-thralled 
Man by Him who saith : 

7 am God, and beside me 
There is none else' 

The Holy Truth that bows in adoring 
Alleluias th' enfranchised soul, and which 
Is of the Lamb's Bride, Her fair foundation 
Jasper, maintains, that Jesus — 

as plainly 
He by Word of mouth declared — Jehovah, 
The Father Almighty and Creator, 
Is, who to save from engulfing evils 
His sin-wrecked children — yet their liberty 
Preserve — vested with man's carnal nature 
His Divine Human, the hosts infernal 
Thereby admitting', and thro 

temptations. 
E'en on the cross, combatted and o'ercome, 
Vanquished, as God in Man, the pow'rs 

of Death 
x\nd Hell, perfecting thus His natural 
Degree, and glorifying it by union 
With th' infinite of which it was begotten, 
Became the blest Saviour and Redeemer 
Of mankind. No ransom He 

to frowning 
Justice paid, nor penalty of brok'n law 
By sacrifice of His own life removed. 
Death on the tortured cross was but the last 



60 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Struggle of a mighty conflict, th' awful 

Sublimity and vast significance 

Whereof the finite mind may not conceive !" 

"I thank thee for this elucidation 
Of the true doctrine, by contrast wherewith 
Th' old perverted faith appeareth monstrous!" 

" 'Tis the 'Great Red Dragon' of the Prophet's 
Vision that, casting to earth 

a third 
Of heaven's stars, and flooding with falsities 
The holy truth, hath slain the church." 

"Alas ! that loving followers of Christ 
Should blindly grope to Him, thro teachings false ! 
Might I one special answer to my prayers 
Receive, this humbly would I ask of God ; 
That He would with His Truth my soul 

prepare. 
And in some way His Wisdom may devise 
Appoint me to preach t' unawakened brethren 
Of th' earth this gospel of His Kingdom !" 

The deep grey eyes fixed on me earnestly 
Kindled with sudd'n fire, while half-audibly 
As to himself he murmured : 

''He may, who knoweth?'' 

XVI. 

In silence, pondering his words, I watched 
The river's broad'ning silver change slowly 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 61 

To pellucid sapphire, nearing- meantime 

The palm-crowned headlands, beetling- 
majestic 

Above the billowy expanse, that proved 

A great mountain lake, the river's spring-head. 

Our altered course had from us wholly shut 

The City's spangled violet upon 

The verge, and knew I not our close 
approach 

Thereto, till waved aloft from bannered heights 

Th' azure insignia of our fraternal 

Order. And now, as homing message-bird 

That greets with quick'ned wing its goal, 
our swift-keeled 

Bark, responsive to my pulse's joyous 

Beat, the promontories gained, and sweeping 

Sudd'n inward entered a deep indentured 

Bay, where glittering arose from crescent 

Marge the hav'n of my heavenly 
sojourning. 

Of white, unquarried stone, built not with hands. 

The shining wonder, lifted from wave-kissed 

Shores to far blue subsides of mountain 

Range its archetypal glories. 

Girdling 

Its bounds, a pure white wall of buttressed rock 

Symbolic battlements reared luminous, 

Where wing-ed steeds in marble poised, 
gold-hoofed, 

'Twixt towered bastions. Three spacious stairways, 

Lucent as alabaster, conducted 



62 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

From the harbor's brink to a great pillared 
Arch, whereon in lettered light resplendent, 
Read I, as fore-told, the heavenly 

motto 
Of our order. Barks, many and various, 
Swayed on the sapphire waters, commingling 
In depths crystalline their bright regalia. 
With our approach, chimes rhythmic sweet, as old 
Cathedral bells that ring for lovers wed. 
Gave greeting, while cheer on cheer of 

happy 
Voices echoed thro the serried hills their 
Joyous welcome. Methinks, whate'er 

of bliss 
May in the blest eternity my soul 
Await, I still shall hear sweet-undertoned 
T' all its raptured harmonies the music 
Of that heavenly home-coming! 
A whelming 

Moment, wherein I neither saw nor heard, 
For thunder of my pulses ; then rev'rent 
Passed the blazing arch,, and in awed silence 
Stood before the mansions of my Father's 
House. Oh ! thou fair-city of our God, 

wrought 
As of gold and cloud-pearl, fairer wert thou 
To me for Marah's bitterness ; for scars 
Of battles lost and won ! How spicy sweet 
With mountain-cedar and rich spikenard bloom 
Th' air! And how the birds sang! 
I seemed to feel 
Thy presence dearest dear, thy mother-heart — 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 63 

Next in my soul's reverence to God — beat 
Close to mine ! Nearer, beloved ! As on that 
Glad spring" morning in the village church where, 
Mid th' Easter lilies kneeling, 

a little 
Child his life unto the Master's service 
Gave. Did MemVy fond delude me or pressed 
She tenderly her lips upon my brow? 
As from dream I started, when my beloved 
Instructor all gently on my shoulder 
Laid his hand. 

"Let us," he said, "thy comrades join." 

xvn. 

Thro spacious avenue and ivied court, 

Sibilant with leaf and fountain, 

Passed we to miracles of templed stone, where each 

Its heavenly use in least particulars 

Proclaimed. Was one to worship 

dedicate ? 
The whole tabernacle shone resplendent. 
As though it shrined th' orb of day ! Reared music 
Her altered sacristy? The very stones 
Piled rhythmic, and sculptured beauty 

silent 
Sang. So with science, art, and poesy. 
From one, to study of th' Word's internal 
Sense devote — and glorious with light of truth 
Unsealed — a vast multitude in manhood's 
Early springtime issued. All flowing garments 



64 THE SUPREME ADl'ENTURE. 

Of changeful gold and sapphire wore, their heads 
Uncovered, and about their brows a gold'n 
Circlet. To him who with me waited their 
Approach, they, pausing, reverent obeisance 
Made, saluting me thereafter with smiles 
And cheers. As chord to sympathetic touch, 
I echoed answer, wondering 

that while 
No one of these I in th' earth-life knew, each 
To my soul familiar dear as brother 
To brother seemed. That instant my heavenly 
Guide and counselor, kinsman by earthly 
Ties no longer, but closer in spirit's 
Truer kinship bonded, was 

to mine eyes 
An angel of Celestial heaven revealed, 
Known to me thereafter as Gamaliel. 
Whelmed with the knowledge, it yet no shrinking 
Awe inspired, nor cold supernal 

barrier 
Upreared ; but rather, as tender-budding 
Plant to sweet impulses of the vernal 
Time unfolds, my spirit in his quick'ning 
Sphere its pow'rs expanded. 
Long afterward, 

I learned amazed, that angels to lower 
Spheres descend not, but ever there appear 
By that which represents them, since decline 
From heaven's light supreme would their transcendent 
Potencies confuse. Watching now the great 
Concourse southward file, sweet strains 

of voice ful 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. o5 

Music from the shore my pleased attention 
Thither drew. Naught I at the first discerned. 
But ere long the lake's pellucid waters 
]Mirrored a fairy scene. From hidden harbor 
Of the verdured hills emerging, 

a fleet 
Of forty barges, fashioned all of some 
Pure roseate substance, such as the dreamer 
Conjures of auroral argosies .that 
Usher in the new-born day, 

a shining 
Galaxy of maid'n beauty bore. No hands 
Nor forceful art their galleyed oars, dripping 
Prismatic fire, impelled, but rose and sank, 
To harmony obedient, as woman's 
Jeweled breast in song. Bowered 

in lilies. 
And by dazzling sun obscured, the gentle 
Voyagers saw we only as prevailing 
Beauty. But one mine eyes distinct beheld 
Who at the prow angelic leader stood. 
Her loosened tresses,, fair as the shining 
Amber that poets sing th' wounded 

sea-bird 
Weeps, tossed to lake breezes unconfined, save 
Where a jeweled fillet stayed the showered 
Glory. A robe of some pure fabric, white 
As the lilies on her breast, her slender 
Symmetry defined, and o'er her fair young 
Brow, sealed with the beauty 

of the Master's 
Spirit, a star of precious rubies flamed. 
5 



66 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Enraptured, Gamaliel I hasty pressed 
With eager inquiries. In one 

brief glance 
He seemed to probe my soul ; then tenderly, 
As breathing benediction, answered : 

"Another city, like, yet unlike this, 
Its complement, or other half, nestles 
From view amid yon eastern hills. 
Secret, 

Its entrance, and only as guarding 
Angels may appoint, spirits admittance 
Find. The fair ones thou seest 

are its gentle 
Citizens, who form the polar inverse 
Oi this sodality, each mind without 
Th' other incomplete. 'In the beginning, 
Male and female, created He them.' 
Thus, as dual parts of one society, they 
Here together dwell. Image of Divine 
Wisdom was man formed. Woman's 
Finer soul creative Love reflected. 
Since compassed points to Love and Truth 

relate, 
Bordereth this city on the southern 
Shore, while yon white doves, by angel 

guardians 
O'er-brooded, nest in th' olivegroves and bow'red 
Almond of th' eastern hills till fledged for heaven." 

"Dwell they there as here in cities sep'rate?" 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 67 

"Nay ; and of this lower sphere, they only 
Who in preparation are for higher 
States. She of whom thou dost inquire angels 
Celestial know by a sweet-voweled name 
That signifies 'The Violet,' 

so-called, 
Since of earth's lowliest she bloomed in pathways 
Of the toiling poor, giving to thankless 
Of her little cup, and shedding patient 
Under swinish feet the heavenly fragrance 
Of her sacrificial love. In a great 
City's crowded mart, whose tow'red 

palaces 
And banquet-halls homeless and hungered mock. 
Her brave young spirit passed. With Christ her 

crust 
Was all unknowing shared, and of His 

boundless 
Treasure shall she evermore receive." 

A tender mist my vision dimmed, 

the while 
Projecting headlands shut the fleet from view. 

"Whither," I asked, "are all these multitudes 
Directed?" 

xvni. 

"Look straitly southward ! Dost mark yon 
palm-crowned 
Summit, where fitful flash thro billowed green 
The bannered blue of thy fraternity? 



68 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

The bold heights a vasty theater enthrone, 
Devote to purpose educational 
By methods off'ring much entertainment ; 
Chiefly, dramatic art; renowned 

lectures 
By distinguished orators, and famous 
Explorers of other planets than our 
Own; the tilt and tourney of debate 

'twixt 
Noted partisans, and music's divine. 
That opes with sceptered wand, 

the slumb'ring soul's 
Long silent chambers, kissing from evil 
Trance, as Prince of old'n story, the beauty 
Of pure affections and heavenly desires. 
For thro o'erwatching Providence 

these gold'n 
Seasons are to vast numbers of this sphere 
Extended, who mainly for diversion 
Thither flock. Of such, this morn's occasion. 
A famous orator, and scoffer 'gainst 
The holy truth, whose recent passing gave 
Th' old church freer breath, doth boldly 

challenge 
To combat controversial whoe'er may 
Of the Christian faith go forth to meet him. 
Steel for steel. Thy city's President hath 
Promptly the gauntlet ta'en for a champion 
Of truth, unknown to fame, summoned 

at close 
Of the assailant's argument by a white 
Glove, in silver blazoned, hurled at his feet. 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 69 

The contest o'er,, one of three judges shall 
Proclaim the victor and the prize 

award. 
Hark ! to the silver-throated orchestra ! 
The amphitheater e'en now is thronged. 
Twelve 

Portals, three on every side, it hath, each 
Guarded that none admittance gain save thro 
Insignia of their fraternal order, 
Whereby they are unto respective ways 
Assigned. This also for precaution 'gainst 
Th' upper hells. The gold'n eaglet 

on thy sleeve 
Embossed doth thee with thy comrades usher, 
Within the great south-gate." 

XIX. 

Of my apparel hitherto no thought 
I took, but thus reminded was amazed 
To find myself in garb identical 
With that of my fraternal order. Not 
Thus had I to spirit-life 

awakened. 
But in accustomed guise familiar. Wlien 
And how, without my knowledge, was the cliange 
Effected? 

Gamaliel my bewilderment, amused. 
Regarded. 

Tn thyself," he said, *'thou seest illustrate 



70 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Th' all-prevailing principle of psychic 
Law, by which the spirit freed from 

cumbrous 
Clay, mouldeth to instant correspondence 
With inner state th' outer temple. 
Wherefore 

Seemeth it to thee miraculous? Wert 
Not in earth-life by the same magic clothed? 
Didst mark the moment of thy growth ! 

or how 
On thine expanding form the cuticle 
Its gauzy covering o'er-laid ? Know'st when 
These locks of wavy gold issued from their 
Minute follicles to crown thee? 
Thinkest 

'Tis more marvelous that thy reception 
Of divine creative Good and Truth should 
Instant here thine outer vesture change, than 
That the same life-agencies on time-thralled 
Earth should thro symbolic medium 

of food 
And drink thy blood transform to flinty bone, 
And corded sinew, tissued gauze,, and silk'n 
Filament? Ponder this, and know the truth ; 
That nature's miracles, whether to time's 
Dull chariot or spirit's light'ning 

harnessed. 
Are nature s laws and one, as God is one. 
These garments,, that so graciously befit 
Thee, are not, as methinks thou dost infer, 
The regulate appointments of this fair 
Fraternity. Far other, their 

profound 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 71 

Significance. Let us as we our way 
Pursue, interpret them. 'Tis meet we first, 
To causal source Light, Form, and Color, trace. 
Form, in nature's universal 

kingdom. 
Is the divine order of symbolic 
Substance. Light, a symbol of Truth Divine; 
And Color, a form of Truth, reflecting 
In types manifold Divine affections. 
From these, by derivations 

limitless. 
Flows nature's infinite variety that 
Overwhelms thought, sinking it blind 

and reeling 
Like a drowned sea-bird. Thence, too, 

the hidd'n key 
Unto her holiest, where mid illumined 
Altars she shall her mystic heart unfold ; 
Teaching by what art th' atomic crystal 
Bosseth on wintry pane its fay-like flowers 
And microscopic ferneries ; 

or builds. 
As for Titania and her tiny court 
In mountain grot, its jeweled palaces. 
There, shall the wild-rose and the robin's Q,gg 
Their unguessed secrets whisper, and thou shalt 
Know a deeper beauty in the day-dawn's 
Amethyst, the butterfly's bespangled 
Velvet, and the rain-cloud's diadem. 
Yea, 

The variations of prismatic light shall 
Be to thee as 'Urim' and 'Thummim ' girt 



72 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

On the breast of nature's holy priestess, 

And thou shalt read their shining- 
oracles 

As messages of Him, who writeth His 

Divine Love in crimson ; His heavenly Truth 

In azure ; His eternal Good in gold ; 

And th' united glories of His perfect 

Righteousness in dazzling white. Thus 

The flowing 

Pattern of thy robe do we interpret 

As thy divine calling to th' angelic 

Priesthood. Its rich-hued sapphire, 
goid-broidered, 

Thy faith (thro good) in the Word's internal 

Sense. The gold'n circlet clasped about thy brow, 

Thy love of knowledge, as a pow'r for good. 

These shining sandaled feet, thy readiness 

To do the Master's will, and this 

Fair crest 

Of nested eaglet poised for flight, thy soul's 

Impassioned yearning for Zion's mountains." 

XX. 

Heard I his teaching in the spirit-world, 
Or stood we in immensity upon 
Some spiritual Patmos, vibrate with heaven's 
Thunder? The sense illusive of spatial 
Limitations vanished, and I beheld 
As in a rain of Pentecostal fire 
Creation's face transfigured ! 
All forms, from 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Clod to singing spheres, breathed flame 

and uttered 
Speech ! Naught insignificant, naught needless ; 
But each, commissioned of th' eternal King, 
His message bore, and royal signature. 
Pallid, with revelation's lightening-glare 
I seemed to hear a voice, as a mighty 
Trumpet blast, proclaiming thro earth and heaven 

''Behold! I make all things new!" 

The vision or mental illustration 

Passed, but in the soul's "large upper chamber *' 

Still I lingered. Oh ! dullards 

of the dark'ned 
Earth, we feel our slow hearts burn within us. 
Thrilling, we know not why, to undertones 
Of wood and stream, or weeping with mystic 
Rapture by sun-kissed peak, or lonely shore, 
E'en while sweet nature singeth in divine 
Symbols to unheeding ears her holy 
Meanings ! A deep-drawn sigh revealed 

my sadden'd 
Thought. Lifting mine eyes, I met Gamaliers 
Benignant gaze. 

'That dusk-winged bird,'' he gently chid, 

''belongs 
Not to the building temple, but rather 
To crumbling ruins of th' old. Look not back, 
But forward ! Angels are astir on earth. 
And thro chill shadows that precede the dawn 



74 THE SUPREME ADVENTLRE. 

Glimmers the heavenly jasper of the New 

Jerusalem, the Lamb's Bride. 

Not distant 

The day when eyes that blindly strain 

thro dark 
Shall catch the glory of the inner temple ; 
When hands that tremble o'er false-vibrant 

chords 
Shall a lyre sweep, waking to harmony 
The slumbering globe ; and Zion, rejoicing, 
Shall arise and put on her beautiful 
Garments, for the Bridegroom waiteth." 

As thus he spake, a sudd'n burst of music 
From the hills announced the landing barges. 

"Whence," I inquired, "This brilliant orchestra?" 

"All members are of thy fraternity, 
Pupils of an illustrious composer. 
To earth unknown." 

"Instructeth he daily here?" 

"Nay, Cometh he intuitive to psychic 
Need, as all of God's inspired galaxy : 
For since endowment in music, poesy, 
And art, is but the fragrant 

blossoming 
Of heaven's ennobling uses. Great Masters 
Rejoice to implant in souls responsive 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 75 

The jeweled seeds of knowledge won 
On God's transcendent mountains." 

Profoundly moved, I hung upon his words. 
The fire of impassioned art was mine from 
Childhood ; a tender boon, as tho the Lord 
Of life had stooped, compassionate, 

to bless 
His sin-marred handiwork, and left beneath 
His loving touch th' imprint of His shining. 
Ever as chilled and starvling bird, that beats 
With wing persistent light's flaming portals, 
Wrestled I for art's creative secrets. 
At last opened to my yearning soul the gold'n 
Doors of hope's fulfilment. 

"And who of that constellation glorious, 
(My voice with eager emotion trembled) 

''May teach me here th' art divine, of waking 
To Hfe dead canvas?" 

Ere he spake, a smile of reminiscence 
Tender answered : 

"He, the dream-faced idol of thy boyhood. 
Whose miniature on ivory I found 
For thee in Florence." 

''Not Raffaello Santir 

•'Aye, the picture didst keep at night beneath 
Thy pillow would here, by vivid contrast 
With the great original, all rudely 



76 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

His spiritual beauty show." 

"And I oh ! dizzy joy, shall see him, speak 
With him, be of him instructed?" 

" 'Tis as thou wilt. To spirit the blossomed 
Wish bears speedy fruitage. Mark how 

the while 
We walk this principle is manifest. 
The steep ascent to this o'er-topping hill 
We climbed not, but when thy city's splendid 
Orchestra the landing barges greeted, 
Our pulses thither quickened, 

and instant. 
Unconscious of transition, we arrived !" 

I paused abrupt, beholding at a glance 
Th' evidences of our magic transit. 
Oh ! marvel of true enchanted story ! 
The headland's plumed and pillared 

coronet. 
Beetling beyond us but a moment since. 
Cast at our feet its shadow-tapestries ; 
While far beneath the sunlit city lay, 
A jeweled crescent on the water's breast ! 
The recognition of my new-born soul. 
As a divinely sceptered powV, 

flamed sudden 
Thro me, tho chastened by prophetic thought 
Of duties so exalted, of unknown 
Ministries so far beyond my present 
Grasp, I dizzied shrank, as callow 

eaglet, 
To awesome thunder-call of cataract 



THE SUPREME APyENTUKE. 77 

And glacial avalanche. What, O wondrous 
God-breathed Psyche, shalt thou 

render unto 
Him who hath redeemed thee by His mighty 
Arm, and made thee heir of His eternal 
Glory? As tho in answer to my thought, 
Gamaliel reached out, and plucked 

a little 
Flow'r, blue as the vaulted firmament. 

''Wear it," he said, "upon thy breast; thou shalt 
Its teaching need. 'Tis the ftoiv'r of FaifJi." 

XXL 

Following thro stately palms our southward 
Path, and watching the last tributaries 
Of the vasty concourse, we came unto 
A massive gateway of pure jasper stone, 
Whereon two gold'n lions guarded, rampant, 
An azure shield, bearing this inscription : 

''Nozi} are zve permitted to enter 
Into the mysteries of holy Truth." 

Beyond, triumphal arches, floral wreathed. 
And gay with bannered welcome, 

conducted 
By mild acclivity to a spacious 

Eminence, spread smooth with spring's young velvet. 
Here, majestic 'mid purpling headlands 



7% THE SUPREME ADVENTURE 

Throned, and vaster by far than 

crumbling- boast 
Of ancient Rome,, th' amphitheater we sought 
Lifted above besieging multitudes 
Its gold'n-domed magnificence. 
The splendor 

Of its pillared alabaster, sculptured 
Arches, friezes, and shining colonnades 
Of pale blue lapis lazuli, bespoke 
Its lavish architecture ; to my thought. 
Distinctly of the Roman school. 
Something 
Of this I to Gamaliel remarked. 

His eyes with keen amusement flashed, the while 
He answered : 

"Th' inverted mirage of old vision still 
Haunteth thy mental camera. No schools 
Of art originate on earth, since all 
Their classic lines and rules of form 

are types 
And shadows of the causal world. 
Art heaven's 

Offspring is, and every builded splendor 
Of our globe was thence derived." 

"By influx?" 

"Aye, spirit hath in earth its ultimate, 
And — in so far as grosser states, may heaven's 
Effluence receive — th' emanations thence 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 79 

Of structured glories are on external 
Plane in-breathed as ideas, that, 

classified, 
Give rise to schools of form. More beautiful 
Than thy conception, angelic mansions,, 
Yet heaven's temples comparison transcend, 
For that they represent in each the grand 
Whole of all its parts, or divine union 
Of its holy good and truth. 
Similar 

Distinction in this middle sphere prevails. 
And also (by correspondence) on th' earth. 
Where public buildings are th' aggregation 
Of a city's wealth." 

XXII. 

Entered we now the great south colonnade, 
Guarded by officers, whose gold-laced garb 
Their martial rank disclosed, but armed not save 
With pow'r invincible of heaven's truth. 
Thence, 

Thro tidal resonance of thronging feet, 
And spacious splendors hitherto undreamed, 
We to the Grand Forum passed unushered ; 
Each, by instinctive psychic law, his own 
Place finding. Here, gently ascending 

gyres 
Of resplendent dais a vasty circuit 
Swept of orient magnificence, pulsing — 
As I sensibly perceived — with strongly 
Conflicting forces of electric life. 



80 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

So great a concourse ne'er had 

I beheld, 

Ranged, as GamaHel to my attention 

Called, according to their truths of doctrine ; 

Christians, south and east; the remainder, 

north 
And west. Yet, as I learned, no special place 
Had local vantage, each, by some metric 
Law to me unknown, fronting 

in equal 
View and audience. Below the richly draped 
Proscenium, th' orchestra — scarce visible. 
Thro bowered bloom — a brilliant overture 
Rendered superb. To right, in regal state 
Pavilioned, sat the judicial 

triad ; 
To left, in like dignity, our gracious 
President, who should the Christian champion 
By tok'n designate. Two chairs 

imperial, 
Of gold and ivory, the orators 
Awaited, the first of whom now entered, 
Announced by martial music and prolonged 
Applause. My heart with sudd'n recognition 
Leaped, time, place and subject swift 

recalling 
Of a great lecture 'twas my good fortune 
Once to hear him, mid enthusiastic cheers. 
Deliver. A man of massive mould, 

topped 
He in brain and body men of his day 
On earth, and by magnetic dominance, 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 81 

Nigh irresistible swayed to his moods 

His auditors, as great Euroclydon 

The forest glades. His profane attacks 'gainst 

God's most holy Word ever I shunned ; 

knowing 
Alas! too well, the vulnerable joints 
Of old church armor ; and how by specious 
Argument, and subtle interweaving 
True with false, he smote and dismayed 

Zion 
With weapons from her own false bulwarks drawn. 
Attentive now unto his opening theme, 
(Eternal Love and Wisdom manifest 
In nature), I felt his giant's power. 
Here, as with magician's wand, 

his list'ners 
Held he spell-bound ! Yet God, th' imaged Glory 
Of Love and Wisdom, he denied, mocking 
As pagan myth a divine creative 
Being, Deity — "so-called" — 

interpreting 
As nature's majestic exposition 
Of an all-powerful, all pervading force, 
Inexplicable^ and unknowable. 
The Genesis of sacred history. 
And fall of man, the "bloody 

cruelties," 
Approved and "commanded" of the ''Christian's 
Fetich/' th' incarnation and redemption. 
He made the targets of his thrice-barbed wit 
And venomed gibe, reserving 

as final 
6 



82 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Spectacular burlesque th' inspired vision 
Of th' Apocalypse ! My breath grew labored, 
And a dull roaring, as of beating waves, 
Drowned in mine ears his closing blasphemy. 
Oh ! patient God ! A sick'ning horror, 

blanched 
My cheek, as thundered the theater with wild 
Applause, and floral tributes rained. As one 
To homage used, gracious acknowledgment 
He made; then calmly confident himself 
Reposeful throned. So coucheth 

the glutted 
Lion that cometh up from prey. And now 
All eyes the President's pavilion sought. 
No sound the breathless silence stirred. Sudd'n, like 
A white falcon, soared the gauntlet ! 
Just heaven ! 

What strange delusion tricked my 'stonished sight? 
Delusion? Nay, directly at thy feet. 
In view of all, the tok'n lay! 
What meant this 

Choice of a mere lad ; a babe in knowledge 
And forensic skill? Dared they, as passing 
Jest, my youth and inexperience 

bemock ? 
The blood forsook my cheek and, quivering 
As to descending scourge, I rose to hurl 
In scorn the gauntlet back, when on mine arm 
An unseen hand was laid, and a low voice. 
As from my spirit's depths, rebuking spake : 

**Believest that / am able to do 
This thing?" 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. \ 

Straight-way my sours tempestuous Gallilee 
Was stilled, and brokenly I answered : 

''Lord, forgive me ! I believe ! Do with thy 
Servant as Thou wilt !" 

Brushed lightly in that moment 'gainst my cheek 
The small blue flow'r on my breast; 

and I seemed 
To hear again the warning of my guide 
And counselor : 

''Thou shalt its teaching need." 

Had he then known? Pale, but calm, the rostrum 
I forthwith ascended, and obeisance 
Made. A storm of acclamation rent th' air. 
Mingled with hisses and derisive 

cheers ; 
But none I heeded, for a great peace like 
Wings of brooding Seraphim o'ershadowed 
Me, and I seemed to hear chanted sublime 
By choirs celestial : 

"Ye shall he brought before governors 
And kings for my sake. Take no thought 
Hoiv or what ye shall speak, for it shall 
Be giv'n you in that same hour. It is not ye 
Thdt speak, but the Spirit of your Father 
Which speaketh in you.'' 



84 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

XXIII. 

The vast assemblage from my vision passed ; 
Its surf-like thunder ceased to beat upon 
Mine ears ; and I stood as 'twere 

on flaming 
Horeb ! Burned from my soul in that white fire 
All mem'ry of my inspired discourse, save 
These bare arguments that dropped, as living 
Embers from ash'n coil into my lower 
Thought : 



Life, as a dynamic, all-pervading 

Principle, void of organic strvicture, 

Yet evidencing in activities 

Of nature a loving, thinking, planning. 

Creative entity, is utterly 

Untenable as thought apart 

from mind 
Or form from substance ; therefore God, First Cause, 
Or howsoe'er we designate th' Author 
Of creation, is plainly manifest 
As primal organism and primal Being. 



God is in esse demonstrate as Love ; 
And love of its divine necessity 
An object doth demand, fitted 

for free 
Participation in its blessedness. 
Thus, for communion and correspondence 
With its Maker, the human form ; and God 
Thereby revealed is primal Man. 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 85 

The Word is in its Holy Trinity 
A type of the Divine Human and, thro 
That correspondence, a vital medium 
'Twixt God and man. Divorced from 

internal 
Sense, 'tis as a human body divest 
Of soul and spirit. The letter its life 
And power from heaven's infolded sense derives. 
But th' old church on plane externe declined 

naught 
Seeth save the symbol that, misinterpret. 
Hath become a stone of stumbling. 



The Book of books, internally revealed, 
Is not — as in the literal appears — 
A record of earth's creation, 

and man's 
Primeval history, but a divine 
Epic of the soul's birth and high estate. 
Declension thence thro sin, and subsequent 
Regeneration writ from Genesis 

to closing 
"Amen!" of Revelation in symbols 
Of the natural. Opening, with th' inspired 
Words : 

"7» the beginning, God created 
The heavens and th' earth," 

It leadeth from the soul's chaotic dark 
Thro six creative days, that signify 
Successive states of heavenly progression. 
Inaugurate with light — the dawn whereof, 



86 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Ere sun, or moon, or stars, 

the spirit-sense 
Confirming — floweth onward the wondrous 
Story of evolving Hfe„ till in God's 
Fair symbolic ''garden" behold we His 
Finished work and imaged glory ! Follows 
On heaven's sobbing harp, thereafter, 

the soul's 
Lost Paradise; its weary pilgrimage 
Of sin and sorrow, trials, temptations, 
Conflicts, and final victory, closing 
With a new song of heaven regained, 

descent 
Of the Holy City in its conquered 
Canaan, and the benediction of peace 
Divine. 

"Behold the tabernacle of God is with men; 
And he shall dwell zvith them, and they 
Shall he his people; and God himself 
Shall be with them, mid be their God. 

And God shall wipe all tears from their 
Eyes, and there shall be no more death, 
Neither sorrow, nor crying; neither 
Shall there be any more pain. 
For the former things have passed away.'' 

XXIV. 

In breathless stillness, such as thro pulsing 
Heat precedes the storm, my discourse ended. 
Then, as one man, the mighty multitude 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 87 

Applauding rose. Louder, and yet louder, 
Swelled the tempest, till the great arches shook 
As caverned coast t' ocean's volleyed thunder. 
Sudd'n, a bugle's shrill command 

the clamor 
Pierced. From judicial hand the gold'n gavel 
Fell, and silence imperial descended. 
The central figure of th' august 

triad 
Now arose to render judgment. 
Holding 

In full view a star of blazing jewels, 
His voice clave the silence like a sword : 

"We who by deliberation of twelve 
Councils are elect to render judgment 
In this controversy, do the guerdon 
Of victory, this jeweled star, 

symbol 
Of heaven's truth, unto the Christian champion 
Unanimous award. But that justice 
Of our verdict be established, ye shall 
To higher tribunal appeal.'' 

Descending the pavilion, he calmly 
The rostrum mounted, and stood betwixt us, 
Facing the audience. Addressing the former 
Speaker, he bade him stretch forth his 

open hand. 
Again, in view of all, the star he held. 
Then dropped it flaming in th' extended palm. 
Instant, the stones grew black and lusterless, 



88 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

As charcoal ! Astonished murmur rippled 
Thro the vast assembly. The Judge 

now walked 
The rostrum's length and thus aloof bade me 
Unto mine outstretched palm the rayless star 
Transfer. Lo ! at my touch the jewels blazed 
Resplendent, forming in ray of sunshine 
O'er my head a nimbus 

of prismatic 
Glory. Enthusiastic cheers and stormy 
Acclamation this scientific test 
Of psychic law now greeted, and. herald 
Of the floral show'r that swiftly followed, 
Fell like a blazing meteor 

directly 
At my feet a vivid crimson rose ! Whose 
Hand the glowing tribute threw ? A mystic sense 
Vague,, indefinable, as 'twere of some 
Magnetic sphere, haunting its fragrance, 

thrilled 
Thro me, while in acknowledgment profound. 
I pressed to my lips the dewy beauty, 
And on my breast secured it with the star. 

XXV. 

Triumphant music now the plaudits 

drowned, 
z\nd gratulating comrades round me closed ; 
But soon my late antagonist I sought. 
Noting 'neath the warrior's mail his wounded 
Pride. Essayed he with formal courtesy 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 89 

To pass, but love that will not thus be barred 
Impelled me to his side. 

''Most heartily," I said, do I rejoice 
That at my feet the gauntlet fell ; 

since seeing 
My callow youth, and how unfit to meet 
In controversy such as thee, thou art 
The more persuaded of a God, who thro 
Me His unworthy mouth-piece speaking, must 
Manifestly be Himself 

in human 
Form. No word I on yon rostrum uttered 
Was of mine own, but as I faithfully 
To thee declare, inspired by Christ the Lord ! 
King Agrippa, believest thou?" 

He smiled, and warmly shook my hand. 

'T believe in thee, and in the promise 
Of thy youth, despite thy superstitions 
And their furtherance by our juggling Judge. 
'Tis a proof of genius to weave the films 
Of falsity into the warp and woof 
Of argument, 'till they as truth 

appear ; 
Howbe't one breath of nature's reason shall 
The shining gossamer to film again 
Resolve." 

"Wilt thou that test unto mine argument 
Apply?" 



90 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE 

"Aye. Answer — tho well I know thou canst not- 
This simple question. If, as thou claimest, 
Thy God be substance, and in the human 
Form,, where hideth He, that never yet hath 
Eye beheld Him? Wherefore, is He not hej'e, 
Visible?" 

"His glory in this lower sphere we may 
Not bear, save as 'tis tempered to our sense 
In yon transcendent orb 
of dazzling light, 
The symbol of His love and wisdom. But 
In the land that hath no need of sun, nor 
Moon, since 'The Lamb' is evermore the light 
Thereof, we shall behold Him 'Face to face' " 

Incredulous amusement brimmed his eyes. 

''When thou arrivest in that wondrous land. 
If I be still alive on earth, wire me, 
I pray, the joyful tidings !" 

Thus, with light raillery, and ere for sudd'n 
Shock my speech I could regain, he to his 
Own departed. 

'Twas evident he knew not he had passed 

Into the immortality, whereat 

He scoffed! Oh, blind insanity! 

Sadly, 

I turned me to the Southern exit, where 

Gamaliel, his face all joy-illumined, 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 91 

My coming waited. Tenderly he took 

My hands and folded them upon his breast. 

''Remember, thou anointed of the Lord," 
He said, "the heavenly lesson thou has learned 
To-day. Death of th' old selfhood, dependence 
JV holly upon Him. And now, 

I leave thee ; 
For to other fields the Master calleth. 
A brother soul, who did precede thee here, 
Shall with thee dwell, and in my place, 

Thy guide and loved companion be." 

"Wilt come to me again, Gamaliel ?" 

"If 'tis the Master's will. Yet, the I come 
Not, soon in the heavenly Canaan we meet 
Again." 

E'en as the music of his words I drank 
He vanished from my sight. 



PART II 

The theater was now from every exit 
Its multitudes outpouring. At the great 
South-gate I waited, hark'ning thro 

surf-like 
Roar of tidal life the signal I knew 
As his, to whom from the first 

my spirit 
Leaped, in recognition true. Th' impassioned 
Fire of creative art touched luminous 
His youthful beauty, kindling the darkness 
Of magnetic eyes, that 'neath Italia's 
Inspired stars first drank the light. 
To vision 

Far beyond me had his fair soul attained, 
But set to the same key our life's music, 
And that his spirit rang to mountain peak, 
Mine answered in the glen. Swift as echoes 
Of his joyous yodel, he now appeared. 

"How missed we each other, Israefel?'' 

Merrily he laughed — 

"How, in this vasty surging sea of friends, 
Who wildly exultant pressed about thee, 
Szvam we together at the last ; 

methinks 
A greater problem ! Oh ! the victory !" 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 93 

"To God alone the praise ; for His, not mine, 
The victory." 

'True; yet He so ord'reth, that the soul shall 
Ever in His warfare and His triumphs 
Share. Fell not by Divine 

Omnipotence 
Alone to-day's Goliath ! Hadst faltered 
On yon rostrum, thou hadst not conquered:' 

"The faith that did uphold me was His gift." 

"What in sooth are we, from least 
to greatest, 
But vessels for His infilling Spirit? 
Th' only difference 'twixt hell and heaven 

is 'twixt 
Rejecting and receiving. 
I saw thee 

In friendly converse with the fall'n chieftain. 
How beareth he his signal overthrow ?" 

"Stubbornly; naught of his holdings yielding, 
Denying the world he now inhabiteth, 
And with assurance comic, affirming 
Himself still on th' earth, in body carnal." 

A shade of pity chased from my comrade's 
Face the half-formed smile. 

"Methinks," I said, "that meeting with old friends 
Long passed from earth, and marking — as seemeth 



94 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

He must — the wide distinction 'twixt spirit 
And gross matter, conviction of a truth 
So plain were scarce avoidable." 

" 'Tis but the habit of false doctrinals, 
Confirmed in lower life, and here pursued, 
That by correspondence with unbelief, 
His ideas of state confuse." 

"How pitiful, that one so gloriously 
Gifted should be from God so far !" 

"How know we, he is from God afar ?" 

I looked into my comrade's face, surprised. 

"Surely, his discourse hath to all this morn 
That question answered." 

He paused in thought a moment, ere replying: 

I. 

"With one who in the earth-life knew him well 
Spake 

I to-day. 'Few men,' he saith, 'hath 'scutcheon 
So unblemished borne, or lived in closer 
Brotherhood to man !' Who of the public 
Knew him best, were neediest. Children, ever 
Found in him a ready comrade ; 

and once 
This friend, upon a wintry day by storm 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 95 

O'ertak'n, saw him from his body strip, thro 
Hissing sleet, a fur-warmed coat, and wrap it 
About a shiv'ring beggar girl. Such souls 
Are not from God afar!" 

"Nay, there was he in truth, the son of God! 
I knew him not, save as the foe of faith, 
The Christian's deadly Saul." 

''From all I of him learned this morn, 

'twould seem, 
His bitter warfare 'gainst the church, th' outgrowth 
Of its perverted teachings, and his soul's 
Impassioned — tho misguided — love for truth. 
Flouted his clear perception, 

the fungus 
Growth, of man-made doctrine, that drop by drop 
Hath sucked the life-blood of the church. Lesser 
Of soul had silent scorned what truth could not 
Accept; but arose this man, like fearless 
Saul, with fire and sword. Thousands, 

are to-day 
His vaunted followers, and many more 
Such are in secret, lacking true courage 
To proclaim it." 

''Alas ! for earth !" 

"Nay, why 'alas?' Thro Divine Providence, 
Such men are instruments of good." 

"0/ good? Hatcheth turtle dove of falcon. 
Or the wild hawk ?" 



96 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

'In sense spiritual, aye. Maketh God all 
Things to serve Him. Few of the Christian Church 
Search for themselves the Scriptures. 
The masses 

Religious faith accept as heritance ; 
More valuable for the mould upon it. 
Such are by fierce assaults constrmned to think ; 
And Zion's ship, aroused from her 

sluggish 
Moorings by guns against her sides, hath ris'n 
To defense." 

"Aye, and vanquished been !" 

"Strength is born of action ! Fighting for God 
Shall lead the way unto His truth." 

"Thinkest he, who fell inglorious to-day 
Before the Lord, shall in th' end his stubborn 
Sword surrender?" 

*'Aye ! Love and Truth are heaven's 
eternal mates; 
And tho, alas! in sin-disordered souls 
Divided; what God hath joined, not earth, nor 
All the pow'rs of hell, may keep asunder ! 
Whoso hath love shall, as the Lord liveth, 
Her heavenly bridegroom -find." 

II. 

The sound of lute and timbrel from the shore 

Our further speech arrested. Israefel 

Bent eager fonvard ; his eyes flashed, and leaped 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 97 

To his cheek, a vivid crimson ! 

**See!'' he exclaimed, "the barges!" 

Thrusting quickly aside the leafy screen, 

We hasted to a rocky eminence 

Commanding the water-way whence, 

Rounding 

The Southern cape, gleamed rosy on our sight 

The swift returning fleet. With his kerchief 

My comrade signaled. She at the foremost 

Prow, a lily, in recognition waved. 

Then, as with one voice from the sailing choir. 

Arose th' old triumphant song of Miriam: 

"Sing ye to the Lord, for he that triumphed 
Gloriously ! The horse and his rider 
Hath he thrown into the sea ! 
The Lord is my strength and song, 
And he is become my salvation!" 

As sank in worshipful ''xA.men !" the last 
Strain of the triumphant paean, I loosed 
Impulsive from my breast the crimson rose, 
And waved responsive. Returned 

a dainty 
Hand the courtesy, or was 't a lily 
Nodded to the breeze ? Ere I the hazy 
Question solved, the fleet had vanished, 

leaving 
In its foamy wake a faint auroral 
Trail of silv'ry light. The rose replacing — 
7 



98 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Methought it sweeter breathed — I silent stood 
In contenuplation of the scene, wherein 
All objects my mood reflected, 

howbe't 
I comprehended not the mood. A sense 
That was not sadness, yet thereto akin, 
Swept sudd'n o'er me, as filmy clouds th' April 
Sunshine ; and the grey lapwing's plaintive cry 
My soul's inexplicable yearning voiced. 

Sighing, I turned away, but sudd'n my footsteps 
Checked, before th' wondrous light that 

glorified 
My comrade's face, as one who rev'rent waits 
At threshold of some altared sacristy. 
Not of the sun-smit hills, that radiance ! 'Twas 
As some raptured thought had oped 

unconscious 
In his soul a veiled shekinah, and thence 
Its inmost glory shed. A moment thus, 
Then lifting up his eyes unto th' eastern 
Highlands, he sang as Peri at heaven's gate 
A matchless song of love's inspired 

sweetness. 
Thrice on th' earth heard I a far-famed tenor. 
To my music-loving soul each joyful 
Festival was inspiration ; thrilling 
Mine earth-bound thought, till it arose 

on gold'n 
Pinions to that heavenly Helicon, where 
Spirit re-baptized sweeps as the spider's 
Gossamer its carnal thrall, and enters 



THE SUPREME ADJ^ENTURE. 99 

Into its lordly heritance. 

Compared 

That voice to this, as lark to nightingale ! 

From its transcendent, impassioned fervor, 

Methought a sphere inefifable 

exhaled, 
Suggesting faint as elf-land airs the tinet. 
And subtle fragrance of wood-violets. 
When the last cadence sank like falling star 
Down spaces amethystine T, sighing, caught 
My breath. 

'Oh! Israefel, what angel of the choir 
Celestial his mantle on thee cast?" 

He smiled. ''The same that in the Master's time 
Shall thine own inspiration be." 



"To me the gift of song hath been denied. 
What God bestows not, angels all vainly 
Woo!" 



'Song, in this life," he answered, "is love's own 
Language ! When the soul's harp for its divine 
Music is attuned, love smites the gold'n chords. 
And song is born !" 

III. 

In sweet fraternal converse thus engrossed. 

We reached, thro greenish dark of blossomed wood 

Thrilled to its singing heart with bird and brook, 



100 THE SUPREME ADJ'ENTURE. 

The city's southern g^ate; there 

by command 
Pausing to give the countersign. 

" 'Tis a precaution," Israefel explained, 
" 'Gainst evil spirits, who lurk craftily, 
Seeking, disguised as angels, admittance 
To this fairest of our Christian cities. 
Yet some despite all vigilance, 

aided 
By infernal arts, at times their entrance 
Make ; howbe't, such instances are rare. 
These, 

From th' upper hells, are for the most part such 
As on earth were house-breakers and highway 
Robbers." 

*'How thro disguise, are they detected ?" 

"By a foul sphere, like that perceived 
in dens 
And caverns of rapacious beasts, to which 
Thro evil affections they correspond 
With such exactitude, that in the light 
Of heaven they are so seen." 

"Proveth ejection difficult?" 

*'Nay, no simpler method may be devised. 
Our guards, the watchman of yon great 

white tow'r 
Signal, who instant on the citv turns 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 101 

The search-light of angeHc truth. 
At touch 

Of its transforming- rays, th' evil spirit 
Is revealed according to his secret 
Correspondence : tiger, wolf, or spotted 
Leopard ; and by the same light, 

that ever 
Doth opposing falsity with keenest 
Pain afflict, is he t" abode infernal 
Straight pursued." 

"How marvelous!'' 

*' Tis but th' operation of symbolic 
Law, whereby is brought to pass the sacred 
Prophecy : 

''For there is nothing covered that shall not 
Be revealed, nor hid that shall not be knoivn: " 

"Are many of earth's civic offices 
Required in this life?" 

*'Aye, all, or such as to them correspond ; 
And many more than on th' earth 

are needed ; 
As manifest, when we the limitless 
Expanse and population of these spheres. 
With uses proportioned to their higher 
States, consider." 

IV. 

Returning by a way passed not this morn. 
We entered now a verdant avenue, 



102 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Fragrant with blossomed lime, and creamy bloom 
Of giant-limbed magnolias, 

conducting 
By slow ascent to spacious terraced heights, 
Crowned stately with mansions of translucent 
Marble. Towxred this glittering array. 
Far out, beyond my vision's farthest range, 
Circling, as Israefel informed, by 

gyred 
Esplanades. And not, as in pent cities 
Of our space-cramped earth, that dole in miser's 
Measure their scant sod, trenched each on other ; 
But every dwelling seemed to draw 

deep breaths 
Of freedom, as conscious of larger life, 
And nobler sovereignty. Of these approached 
We one, that held for me a special charm. 
Sweet rambler roses, tender in niem'ry 
Associate, mirrored in the lucent stone 
Their glowing crimson ; while myrtle 

and blossomed 
Almond, towering aloft as trees, shook 
O'er the velvet sward their petaled fragrance. 
Somewhere to left, mid budding greenery 
And mazy bloom, a-whisper 

with fountained 
Spray, stole th' entrancing sweetness of the small 
Brown shrub,, adored of my predatory 
Boyhood, and gathered till my pockets swelled 
With ravished hoard ; till wild bees 

persistent 
Trailed me, and the yellow wasp searched me thro 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 103 

Flicking osiers for hidd'n treasure. How sweet, 
To find in these fair mansions of the hlest 
The things we loved of yore ! 

Israefel my keen delight reflected 
In his eyes. 

''Methinks thou lik'st the picture!" 

"Aye, that I do ! What happy birds nest here ?" 

"Thou and I. Together we here abide, 
Till one, or both, the Master calleth." 

"Oh! doubly wov'n joy of our Father's love, 
And tender providence!" 

E'en as I spake, the silver gate swung wide. 
And sudd n whirring from the myrtle, 

circled 
Above our heads two mating doves." 

"Behold !" said Israefel, "the welcome-sign. 
And happy augury! So on my first 
Entrance here greeted they me." 

Ascending the broad threshold 'twixt couchant 
Lions buttressed in shining stone, entered 
We from ivied portico a spacious 
Vestibule, or columned court, beautiful 
With art's inspired works adorned, 
and mantled 



104 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Ill wondrous fabrics, such as no far famed 
Weaves of Persian Ind, nor priceless broid'ries 
Of old Castile, e'er wrought. Beyond this court 
Oped lordly chambers, all murmurous with silk'ii 
Stir, and breathing thro wafted 

April-bloom 
The sweet, famiHar sphere, we recognize 
As home. Of these one framing in wide-domed 
Windows the vistaed Beulah-land, now bathed 
In purple mist, my thought 

unquestioning 
To Israefel assigned, whose dreamful soul 
It seemed to radiate. That looking southward. 
White-crested lake and greenly-wooded shore 
Commanding, proclaimed itself mine own. 
There, 

Eager entering, I paused, observing 
Surprised in place accustomed my rosewood 
Easel, with pallet of fresh-laid colors, 
And last unfinished picture ! 
Oh ! magic, 

Of recreative mem'ry ! A richly 
Carv'n cabinet of antique ivory 
My wandering eyes next drew to rows of books, 
Familiar bound. I took one from the shelf. 
'Twas verily my well loved Keats, 

or else 
A duplicate exact. x\ye, here my writt'n 
Name, and margined notes ; there, at sweet story 
Of St. Agnes Eve, a fragrant leaf, slipped 
In to keep the page. A momentary 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 105 

Mist the stanzas blurred. Replacing. 

my glance 
Fell on a shining silver stand, where lay 
In vellum white and gold another book. 
My father's gift last Easter morn. 
It oped 
At touch to the blest promise : 

''And God shall ivipe all tears 
From ■their eyes; and there shall he 
No more death, neither sorrozv, nor 
Crying, neither shall there he any 
More pain; for the former things. 
Are passed azvay:' 

Alleluias, to His Holy Name ! This 
Day to me was the sublime prophecy 
Fulfilled ! Closing reverent the sacred 
Volume, I found my palms and finger tips 
Aglow with light. To Israefel I held 
Them forth. 

"Behold !" 

''Thou seest," he said, "the shining of God's Word 
From its indwelling truth. 'Tis the sole lamp 
That lighteth here all temples dedicate 
To Him ! Hast in thy desk a sheet of white. 
Translucent paper? Thanks! Tis just the width 
Required. Watch, while I further demonstrate 
This principle.'' 



106 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

With flying pen he wrote in close concentric 
Circles the Lord's prayer, then interfolded 
Deft to fashion of a star that instant 
A brilliant radiance diffused. 
Oh ! Wondrous 
Attestation of Divine Truth! 

"This glory," said Israefel, *'proceedeth 
From the Word's internal sense." 

V. 

The chambers all save one explored, we now 
By onyx stairway, softly luminous. 
To fair rotunda of the lofty dome 
Ascended,, that at a glance its double 
Joy, observatory and art studio, 
Revealed. 

"How magnificent !" I cried, my kindled 
Eyes sweeping the view. 

He smiled, "Methought thy beauty-loving soul 
sVould thrill to this." 

" 'Tis a joy unspeakable; and also 
A master-teacher in perspective." 

Designated Israefel a mountain 

Scene so featured. ''What thinkest of that?" 

"The vistas are marvelous. Thv work?" 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 107 

''Nay, 'tis by a former member of this 
Brotherhood, who gave it me ere passing. 
'Twas after these perspectives modeled." 

I gazed about me, on the beautiful 
Creations of brush and chis'l, the studio 
Adorning. 

"The landscape on thy left," said Israefel, 
"And its companion, 'Oh, the rocks,' also 

Yon group in marble, 'Love dominating 

Hate and War,' are replica of famous 

Classics." 

"And the rest are thine?" 

"Aye, tho several their truest touches 
Owe to my inspired master, who on earth 
Was the great Santi. Conception, and birth, 
Are to me due, so far as finite souls 
May arrogate creative thought; but that 
Pure fire the rash Prometheus 

so dearly 
Filched I gave not, save to one. Yon blue-eyed 
Dryad, stepping forth from beech 'n heart, 

was 'neath 
Mine ardent pencil the fairy-footed 
May, but lived not, till a master-hand touched 
Mouth and eyes. That sun on satyr-haunted 
Wild shone true, but of a sense interior 
Was dumb, till a magician 

smote the scene. 



108 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Revealing in tangled wilderness man's 
Natural and carnal to spiritual 
Sun awakening." 

"Thy work amazeth me !'' 

He gave a gesture of dissent. 

"Too many borrowed plumes ! This, my best, claim 
I entire." 

Approaching a curtained easel, dainty 
Wrought in aromatic wood, he lifted 
The silk'n veil, disclosing to my 'stonished 
Eyes a painting marvelous of her who 
Led the fleet ! A work of finest 

fancy 
'Twas, the fair prototype as airy sylph 
Portrayed, poised o'er a brook-enamored bank 
Of violets, the spirit suggesting 
Of their purity and fragrance. 
No great 

Inspired master of immortal fame might 
Animate with truer spark creative 
This living loveliness ! How, sudd'n strident, 
Scaled he this o'ertopping height? 
How wrested 

From bays Olympian this crowning laurel 
Of untimely leaf? I laid in wonder 
My hand upon his shoulder. 

"Whence this miracle?" 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 109 

His face illumined as crested hill that greets 
The sunrise. 

**One holy, uncreated, fire kindleth 
Alike finite and infinite. The source 
Of every inspiration and all pow'r, 
Yea,, the life-force of th' universe 

is Love! 
Think not this fairest flower of mine art 
With others of mine easel's garden grew. 
Like mountain edelweiss, it bloomed alone 
In purer atmospheres on heights 

beyond 
This plane. Moments there are — for which we thank 
The Lord of life and love — when on some mount 
Of raptured soul transfigured heaven opes ; flames 
Th' incensed air with angels ; and thought sublimes 
To sceptered pow'r. Thus was born this picture. 
She, whom no highest art may e'er 

portray. 
Is in this world my bride affianced." 

I started, in profound amaze. 

''Thy bride affianced T' 

"Aye, seemeth it to thee so strange?" 

'Tn sooth, most strange ! Marriage, 
I understand. 
Ordained for natural, not spirit life. 
Earth is to heaven seminal, and blossom 



no THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

On the marriage stem prospective angels. 
The end and purpose thus attained, 

what use 
Hath wedded state in heaven ?" 

"The same." 

"Thou speak'st in riddles, or methinks 
some cloud 
My reason doth befog." 

VI. 

"Use, as thou discernest, is creation's 
Goal ; but while th' earth is seminal to heaven, 
And create therefor, is 't not inversely 
True that heaven is likewise seminal t' earth ?" 

"Not likewise." 

"Aye, like as spirit may be to matter, 
Or higher,, unto lower. Let me these 
Earth-clouds from thy thought dispel. 
The human 

Soul, patterned divine, hath two eternal 
Principles, distinguished in creation's 
Morn as male and female. This dual state. 
Symbol of God's wedded Love and Wisdom, 
Our whole organic structure doth 

pervade. 
Take thyself, for instance. Thou hast two brains. 
Two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, lips and hands. 



Tim SUPREME ADVENTURE. Ill 

And thus, throughout thy members. 

Of profound 

Significance this order. That thou'rt man, 

Not woman, is simply, that of thy two 

Electric poles the male was thence project, 

The female lying as 'twere dormant. 

In naught 

Is difference ; save as the one external 

Is, th' other internal, and as the male 

To truth or understanding corresponds,, 

The female, to love or will. Hence, 

th' outer 
Man is woman ; th' inner woman, man. How 
Beautiful illumined thus the story 
Symbolic of woman's birth in Eden ! 
Marriage, thus demonstrate 

a principle 
Divine, and in all kingdoms of nature 
Symbolized, is universal basic 
Lazv! Destruction of its holy altars 
Would suns extinguish ; th' animating spark 
Of nature quench, and th' whole cosmos, 

crumble ! 
All to its heavenly harmony opposed 
Is anarchy and death ! The strife of tongues ; 
The clash of swords ; War with its dread 

offspring 
Plague and Famine ; th' earthquake's devastating- 
Fury, and the Storm-wind on its hell-foaled 
Steed astride, whence are they, and what? 
Follow 
Their hissing arteries to flaming source ! 



112 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Pause not where earthly science halts ! 
Press thro 

External nature to the spirit's core ! 
There, in the dark abode of human hate 
And lawless lust, the direful realm 

of souls 
Divorced from divine marriage with their Lord 
And Maker, shalt thou answer find ! 

In heaven 
As on earth the wedded state fruition 
Yields. Children of angelic marriages 
Are tenderest affections and vital 
Energies of Good and Truth, whose 

paths grow 
Lilies, and whose descending effluence 
Refresheth with spiritual life the spheres 
Beneath, as Hermon's dew the parch-ed vale." 

VIL 

"Thy revelation doth my soul o'erwhelm ! 
But how interpretest the Word of God 
That plainly saith : Tn the resurrection. 
They neither marry, nor are in marriage 
Giv'n, but are as the angels?' " 

"No word of God, whether of sacred writ, 
Or nature's illustrated page, showeth 
In divine lumen contradictory. 
The Holy Scriptures are for man 

designed 
And to his mental growth adapted. How 



77//: SUPREMB ADVENTURE. 113 

Speak we to children, save as their infant 
Thought may grasp? So answered His 

'Little ones ' 
The patient Jesus. Of marriage in heaven, 
Its holy uses, and significance. 
What comprehension had His questioners, 
Sin-blinded and debased? Neither, might they 
The truth receive, that souls in spirit life 
Are by divine creative laiv 

conjoined. 
And not in marriage giv'n. Wherefore, He sowed 
Not to profaning folly the crown-pearls 
Of His kingdom ; but gently their scoffing 
Chid, replying- only as they understood 
On plane corporeal." 

"What of the marriages in earthly life 
Contracted?" 

"The truly wedded of our earth do here 
Their blest estates renew ; but rarer they. 
Than flow'rs that bloom 'neath winter's snow. 
Whom God 

Hath not conjoined are in the spirit- world 
Dissociate ; their former relationships 
No more rememb'ring-. While each 

for his own 
Eternal mate, doth wisdom infinite 
Ordain, sin hath the true perception closed, 
Divine adjustment thereby confusing". 
In the young morning of our race 

psychic 
8 



114 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Selection erred not ; but alas, for earth ! 
Meet daily now, upon her voyaged deep, look 
In each other's eyes, and pass as strangers. 
Souls God created one: Or, if in night 
Of stormy stress the light'ning\s flash 

doth each 
Its own reveal, 'tis oft but to be gulfed 
Again in rayless dark, deeper, alas ! 
For that one moment's gleam. Let us thank God, 
We passed ere this our lot, to the blest land. 
Where love smites on her gold'n harp no falsely 
Vibrant note,, and marriage bells ring true!" 

VIII. 

Surging emotions held me mute. 

In what 

Lethargic deep slumbered my perception 

That it waked not to some feeble 

glimmer 
Of this light? How failed I, in the spirit's 
Clearer vision, to recognize my soul, 
The half of its divinely imaged being, 
Whose counterpart, its highest and holiest. 
Awaited somezvhcrc in God's 

Providence, 
The moment of magnetic unity, 
As pole electric, its eternal mate? 
The bounding blood, sang in mine ears ! 
Marriage 

For me 'gainst whom the magic gates, that ope 
Enchanted paths to happy lovers, clanged 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 115 

Harsh at birth? For mc, who made a sealed 
Sepulcher of all sweet hopes 

and tender 
Joys that bless the lives of other men, this 
Crown of heaven's beatitudes? 
I glanced thro 

Wide flung windows to hills new-glorified. 
Soul of my soul! Where art thou? In what fair 
Garden of our Father's many mansions 
Waiteth our heaven-appointed tryst? 
For naught 

Throughout th' universe, mountains, rivers, seas, 
Powers, nor principalities, may bar 
Me from thee, who wheresoe'er thou dwellest, 
Art nearer to me than breath to lung, than 
Heart unto its living pulses ! 
Waking 

From reverie, my comrade's hand I pressed 
In gratulation mute, warm with a new 
And closer sympathy. 

"Tell me," presently I asked, ''what hallowed 
Place recordeth thy first meeting?" 

He kindled as a live coal breathed upon. 

''Seest where yon rosy trail of flow'red red almond 
Flusheth th' eastern shore ? I rowed and sketched there, 
On the day my young life blossomed. 
Midway 

The billowed bloom, close to the lapping tide. 
Nested in reedy covert two milk-white 



116 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Swans, and oft I fed the pretty creatures ; 
But that morn a fairer hand mine office 
Did usurp. My boat, with noiseless approach, 
Scarce touched the shore, when screened by 

o'erhanging 
Masses of wild muscadine, I watching 
Saw emerge 'neath bushy bloom, first, dainty 
Foot, then a white arm, bared to sat'n shoulder 
Of its gauzy vestments by audacious 
Branches, and anon, thrust through 

the floral 
Canopy, in aureole of rippling 
Tresses framed, a face! Dropped from 

my nerveless 
Hand with idle plash th' oar ! She started, looked, 
The boat unstayed swung full in view. 
Grasping 

A drooping osier, I rose in homage 
To my feet ; mine eyes drank hers, and instant, 
As leaps in law elective the bolted 
Lightning, I knew her my soul's eternal 
Mate, my bride of heaven ordained. 
A moment. 

As timid dove in woodland cote surprised, 
She fluttered, sweet confused ; then swift to bow 'red 
Shades withdrew. Yearning, I called 
By the dear 

Name, that sprang instinctive as heaven's music 
To my lips: 'Flee not thyself, Violette ! 
Speak thou, to thine own soul !' She paused, 

looked back, 
And loosing from her white throat a cluster 



THE SUPREME ADl'ENrURE. 117 

Of her dewy namesakes, tossed them fragrant 
At my feet. I followed, but the jealous 
Wood gainst me conspired, and traceless the sward, 
As 'twere by fairy pressed. Vainly 

I sought 
Each day the wild swan's nest, and wooded ways 
Explored. One eve — for thus had my mental 
Sun declined — I, baffled from fruitless quest, 
Returning, beheld her thro the purple 
Gloaming gathering the shy 

arbutus 
In a mossy dingle. At my approach 
She flushed and paled alternate, as her sweet 
Trophies ; but fled not, and there our happy 
Troth we plighted." 

'Sweet the story !" 

"A sweeter to thy thought shalt thou ere long 
In turn relate." 

'God speed the day!" 

'His wisdom all things ordereth. We wait 
His guidance. Wilt bide thee here awhile ? 
Or art impatient to explore our fair 
White city?" 

1 long to behold all things the Father 
Hath for us prepared." 



118 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

"Let us then go hence, unto the street called 
'Shining.' " 

IX. 

Apt, methought, the christening, as led our way 

Mid palaced splendors, flashing their tow'red 

Glories in the sun, and thro enchanting 

Gardens, symphonies of color, fragrance. 

Singing birds,, and sparkling fountains. 

Of these. 

Where four broad streets converged in terraced bloom, 

A study in classic marble, crowning 

Life-sized th' apex, mine eyes admiring drew. 

A marvel 'twas in trinal harmony, 

Symbolizing in three peerless 

graces 
Love, Truth and heavenly Use. 

"Whose masterful creation this?" I asked, 
For at the base it marks of chisel bore. 

" 'Tis not, as doubtless it thee impresseth, 
Th' offspring of a name illustrious ; but work 
Of a poor Genoese, to fame unknown; 
Who in earth life, herded, (ofttimes hungry 
And half clad), his master's flocks. 
Loved he well 

This fair fraternity, where his lofty 
Genius expanded, and ere departing 
Wrought for 't this splendid tribute." 

''Knewest him?" 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 119 

"Nay, save as we know all kindred souls. 
Passed 

He to heaven long ere I joined this happy 
Brotherhood." 

Proceeding on our way, we came unto 

A wondrous temple, whence the street its name 

Derived. Its vast magnificence of tow'red 

Alabaster, glittering with countless 

Spires of purest crystal that caught the light 

In dazzling prismatic splendence, 

appeared 
In the distance, a stupendous jewel, 
Set in the day-god's flaming gold. 

"No belfry," said Israefel, "this temple 
Hath, nor are especial hours to w^orship 
Dedicate. The service is choired music, 
And the doors are never closed.'' 

"j\Iy heart with thanksgiving and praise is full ; 
Let us into His presence enter." 

When to the mellowed light mine eyes 

conformed, 
I saw a great concourse devotional 
Assembled, and noted, profoundly awed, 
The symboled splendors of th' inner temple. 
As ever tends the beautiful in art 
And nature to its divine archetype. 
So centered these convergent 

symphonies 



120 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Of form and hue in altared holiness, 
Where lay effulgent 'twixt extended wings 
Of gold'n cherubim th' open Word. 
About the shrine no burning incense rose, 
Yet thrilled the air with aromatic breath 
Of silent orisons. Kneeling, 1 prayed ; 
And in that heavenly communion, 

methought 
She knelt unseen beside me, her head bowed 
Rev'rent, her hand confidingly in mine. 
The congregation by another way 
Dispersed, and following we reached a point 
Where a broad avenue of stately palms 
The street transected. There,, o'er a greenly 
Fronded sea, majestic domed, 

and shining 
From within as a colossal lamp, stood 
The resplendent edifice, whence issued 
So late the cheering concourse who 

greeted 
My arrival. How long ago, in view 
Of all my soul's experience it seemed ! 

"This temple," said my comrade, "is devote 
To study of the Word's internal sense. 
Our angel instructors are departed,, 
But ope the doors alway to visitors 
And such as may desire to read or make 
Research." 

X. 

The great high-vaulted entrance, 
triple-spanned 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 121 

By coruscating arcs of flame-blue light, 
Admitted to a vasty pillared court. 
Known as the "Court of Lions," prototype. 
Of that in earth's old Moorish palace, where 
Twelve of these royal beasts 

the reservoir 
Of a fountained show'r uphold. The beauty 
Majestic of this supernal marvel 
My soul with rev'rent awe inspired, the while 
Its heavenly symbol I interpreted ; 
Truth by Divine Pozv'r guarded 

and sustained. 
Passing the sentry, continued we through 
Stately corridors and shining archways 
To chambered splendors ; libraries devote 
To Causal Science, and studios connect 
In order serial, each its own subject 
By appurtenance announcing, 

tho much 
I saw therein was to me mystery. 
In one of these a curious device wrought 
Of transparent crystal my attention 
Drew, showing two human figures, one closely 
Within th' other fitting, yet each distinct. 

"What this?" I asked. 

"A vivid exposition 'tis of soul 
In its relation to the carnal form ; 
Immortal man to mortal covering 
Adjust, as hand to glove. 
How laughable — 



122 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Were 't not so pitiful — the pond'rous tomes 
Of earthly scientists, to demonstrate 
The soul a viewless volatile, secrete 
In pulpy cell of carnal brain, 'scaping 
At death as gas from chemical retort/' 

I smiled, as he continued : 

''Man's lordly reason hath thro sin become 
A brok'n compass, leading by inverted 
Order, to Folly's island. 
Thus, in his 

Insane philosophy he nature doth 
With God confuse; endeavoring to prove 
By labored argument life generate 
Of death ; mind of matter, cause of effect ; 
And sceptered love, that rules the universe, 
Of protoplasmic mire !" 

Passing t' another studio, a life sized 
Graving of the human form mine eager 
Inquiry directed. 

'This figure represents," said Israefel, 
"The conformation of our trinal heaven 
In its entirety ; as also of each 
Sep'rate sphere, and each community 

therein, 
That by derivation from the Divine 
Human is thus imaged. And this is true, 
Not of our planetary heaven alone, 
But that of every shining orb, that wheels 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 123 

Its pathway thro th' infinite. Hence is each 
Heaven to eye of God as one Grand Man. 
Yet— 

Oh ! thought, wherein our finite dizzied reels — 
Is not a pulse-beat of this stupendous 
System lost! No secret sigh, nor falling 
Tear,, no upward glancing of th' eye to Him, 
But doth His tender love and 

providence 
Command. The hairs of our head are numbered : 
And marked in His Omniscience the sparrow's 
Fall'. Time was, when earth's most ancient church this 
Deep arcanum knew ; but since the soul from 
Heaven declined, communion with th' angels ceased 
And perished thus the knowledge. A spark, 

dropped 
In its passing still lingers on our globe, 
But disregarded, or held as the dying 
Flicker of some bygone myth ; and only 
Children, seeking pictures, ponder 

'the Man,' 
On page of yearly almanac." 

I smiled amused, recalling my childhood's 
Old enigma, and the much beclouded 
Answers to my persistent inquiries. 
Till now, no light had touched the mystery. 
Kindled by his subject, he continued: 

'Th' uses, and animating love of heaven's 

Societies, are ever by location 

In corresponding organs of the 'Grand 



124 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Man' indicate. They of the head 

excel 
In wisdom ; the breast, in charity ; th' arms 
And hands, in pow'r ; the loins, in conjugial 
Affection ; the lower limbs and final 
Feet, in lesser, or more external forms 
Of good and truth. Heaven's angels who 

instruct 
Us here are in the provinces of head 
And breast." 

"How marvelous !" 

"Aye, the finite mind some feeble glimmer 
Of divine government hereby perceives. 
Bowing in adoring worship our hearts 
To Him, the 'Grand Man Infinite ' 

of heaven 
Universal, and holy Archetype 
Of the soul's perfected manhood." 

XI. 

Profoundly moved, and pond' ring in my breast 
These wondrous truths, approached we now, beyond 
The studios, a vast, high vaulted chamber,. 
The doors whereof were crowned, 

as the temple's 
Lofty initial portal, with trinal 
Arcs of coruscating light, tho whiter 
These than whitest diamond. Faint, from within, 
A subtle fragrance exquisite exhaled, 



THE SUPREMJl .IDl'EXTURE. 125 

That Israefel informed accompanied 

Angels of the second,, or spiritual 

Heaven, ling'ring oft where they had ministered. 

Recalled I the while he spake a dreamy 

Fragrance 'sociate with Gamaliel, not like 

To this, but more as heavenly zephyrs borne 

From some blest Ceylon. 

Involuntary 

Murmur 'scaped me, as 5wept mine eyes amazed 

The gold'n-domed magnificence of this Grand 

Auditory, or Inner Temple, where 

Convolutions vast of gold and purple 

Dais, a billowed sea of gorgeous 

color 
Rolled, about a jeweled shrine resplendent. 
On this,, effulgent in its own glory, 
Lay the Word. 

"Thou seest," said my comrade, "the focal heart, 
Of this great edifice, whither its main 
Arteries instructive flow ; for here, th' Word's 
Internal spirit sense is to our thought 
Unfolded." 

''To whom this holy ministry?" 

"Th' angel Zamiel. Oh ! the shining- 
beauty 
Of his countenance, reflected from light 
Unveiled ! Beholding him, I seem to hear 
As from the sacred Mount, 'Lord let us make 



126 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Three tabernacles; one for thee, one for 
Moses, and one for EHas.' " 

E'en as he spoke, flashed on my soul, 

the deep 
Significance of words to me so long 
Obscured ; aye, and to Peter also void, 
For in that moment of supernal trance, 
''He zvat not what he said." 
'Twas astounding! 

Three tabernacles of the Holy Word! 
Moses, slow and dull of speech, its letter 
Or historic narrative. Elias, 
Its prophetic or inner spiritual 
Sense, and our transfigured Lord, 

its inmost 
Celestial Glory! My face t' Israefel 
Betrayed the sudd'n revelation that smote 
And kindled it. Smiling, he responded : 

"Full of all sweet and joyful surprises,. 
The new-reveal-ed Word. So, evermore, ' 
Shall we behold the pillared cloud uproll 
Before the pillared fire !" 

''Haste we by knowledge of th' internal sense 
The term of our probation here ?" 

"Nay, while the holy Word is the divine 
Ladder of ascending and descending 
Angels 'twixt the Father and His children. 
We haste not heaven of ourselves. 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 127 

'Tis love, not 

Wisdom, maketh ready. What, in His sight, 

Our knowledge? What, our righteousness? 

Man's will 

And understanding were in creation's 

Morning happy lovers ; grown now, alas ! 

Inconstant and estranged. Till re-unite 

In heaven's harmony, come not the wedding 

Garment, nor the marriage ring. 

Few so pure, 

They pass direct from earth to heaven. Some, long 

In this probationary sphere abide ; 

Others, briefly tarry, and recordeth 

TwQ our city's register who 

lingered 
But a day." 

XII. 

Leaving the temple by its eastern gate, 
We entered a street, that led inviting 
Thro a verdured park, rich with varieties 
Of shrubbery, and bright-winged birds, 

unlike 
All noted hitherto, here, or on th' earth. 
Much occupied therewith, I saw not, till 
Thence directed, two near approaching men. 
The taller — our President — I instant 
Recognized. His companion, fair of form 
And feature, a stranger t' our city seemed. 
Whose gentle speech, tho of the tongue 

common 
To spirits, impressed mine ear by something 



128 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

I knew not what, as foreign. 

Saluting, 

We were intent to pass, but paused, accost 

By our President, who graciously made 

Known his visitor and guest, the Spirit 

Xanthe ; a famed explorer, new-arrived 

From Mars. Breathless with surprise, we scarce found 

Voice to welcome him. 

''Mars !" echoed Israefel. 

Then I: "Didst say the planet Mars?" 

The stranger's eyes, a searching amber, flashed 
Amused. 

"Aye ; seemeth it so wonderful ?" 

"Methinks," I laughing said, "one would not view 
A trip from Mars t' earth,, as an excursion." 
Whereat, much merriment ensued. 

" 'Tis plain," said Xanthe, "Thou art to spirit 
Life as new as I unto thy planet. 
Since time and space, that are but seeming here, 
Still haunt thy mental vision. 
The distance 

From Mars to farthest cosmic orb is just 
The measure of thy thought from its desire." 

"This by some smaller experience I know. 
And law of atom is the law of orb ; 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 129 

JUit a few hours of wonder-land 

may scarce 
The mind to Hmitations used prepare 
For transits that would render tame exploits 
Of Oberon and Puck." 

"Who are Oberon and Puck?" 

'Tardon me! They are but fairy myths; mere 
Creatures of earth's fancy." 

XIII. 

"Wert an explorer in the lower life?" * 

Asked Israefel. 

"Yea, a wanderer was I from boyhood. 
In all countries of my planet, 

howe'er 
Untried, left I my foot-prints. Th' outer flesh 
Unfit at last to serve the Spirit's will 
Dropped to its native dust in Arctic snows. 
And now in higher spheres am I again 
By the Lord's goodness permitted f explore." 

"Where in this planet didst the transit make?" 

" 'Twas in the far circumf 'rence of this sphere ; 
A wild repellent region, by savage 
Tribes inhabited, known in thy lower 
World as 'anthropophagi.' Naught 

human 
9 



130 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Beheld I like to them ! Many of both 
Sexes, new-arrived, danced measures grotesque 
About great pyres, themselves still in the flesh 
Believing, and orgies holding to some 
Monstrous god ! Oh ! I did weep for pity ! 
Of one — an angel, whose charge they were — 

prayed 
I to be informed concerning them. Thus, 
He answered : 

'These are the Father's hapless children who 
Never heard His name ; on whose dull ears,, used 
But to cries of desert beasts and war's dread 
'Larum, fell never the heavenly 

message 
Of peace and good-will to men ; yet, who red 
With blood of fetich altars grope to Him 
Blindly. Unshap'n blocks are they, 

from darksome 
Quarry of our earth rough hewn. Nay, weep not ! 
But wait ye the Divine Sculptor ! 
Chis'led, 

After similitude of a palace. 
Shall we behold them set in the Holy 
City of the Lamb's Bride !' " 

"To Thee, Oh ! Lord, do we give thanks !" murmured 
Our President. 

Xanthe in rev'rent silence bowed his head 
Ere he continued : 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 131 

XIV. 

"Thence inward proceeded I, thro varied 
Belts idolatrous, and lands by higher 
Forms of faith illumed, reaching- interior 
The Christian nations, who in accordance 
With religious truth approach the centre." 

''How, in that thou hast explored, compareth 
Earth with Mars?" 

''Where diff'rence is so radical we scarce 
Comparison may draw. This Paradise, 
That doth my soul delight, and where in sweet 
Accord I fain would linger, 

resembleth 
Much a fair angelic plane in Mars, though 
In other belts distinct opposed as light 
And shade,, or states internal to externe. 
Thy planet — as mayhap thou art aware — 
Is of the Grand Cosmic Man 

th' ultimate. 
Thus most exterior, or in descending 
Scale of spiritual life, farthest removed ; 
Nath'less, as in all ultimates, the base 
And residence of pow'r. In thy Scriptures, 
'Tis 'The Lord's footstool' called. 
For this primal 

Cause, and also since 'Alpha' must become 
'Omega,' 'twas the chos'n theater of man's 
Redemption." 



132 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE, 

*' 'Tis in part a thought new to me,," I said, 
"But clearly its profound significance 
I now perceive." 

"What in this middle world," said Israefel, 
"Hath most impressed thee?" 

"Its many divisions of the Christian 
Church, and grievous decadence from Divine 
Truth. For lesser faith, and more external state, 
Was I prepared; but not in sooth for this! 
So numerous their diff'rent names and creeds, 
I ceased to take of them further 

account ; 
Their public worship I could not attend 
For that they Deity profane divided 
In three personal, co-equal Gods, who 
Claimed they (contradictory) as one. This 
Monstrous falsity my heart 

affected,, 
Followed by cold dew and respiration 
Labored, compelling my swift departure. 
Sorrowed my soul exceedingly o'er these 
Declensions from the faith." 

" 'Tis a fulfilment of prophecy," said 
Our President : 

" 'They parted my raiment among'st them, 
And for my venture, they did cast lots.' 

Mark ye; of these was one ivovn unthout seam! 
A day cometh — for mouth of the Lord hath 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 133 

Spok'n it — when Zion's children shall at one 

Altar kneel ! Earth's old external church, torn 

By discordant elements and sapped thro 

Ingrown falsities of spiritual life, 

Is passing; and ere another cycle 

Roll, the new-revealed truth, whose tender 

Plants are putting forth their leaves 

for healing 
Of the nations, shall spread its deathless roots 
From pole to pole." 

''What meanest, by 'new-reveal-ed truth ?' " 

"Our Word's new-oped internal sense; the which 
Our Master's second coming signals." 

Xanthe looked up surprised. 

"Thy Scriptures," he said, ''are writ 
in symbols, 
Th' earliest of languages methought connate ; 
But as I now perceive quite lost to earth 
That doth interpretation literal 
Require, adapted to more external 
State, and in agreement with 

location 
In the Grand Cosmic A Tan. Followed mighty 
Changes the rending of this spiritual 
Veil? Such, by influx from angelic heaven, 
W^3uld inevitable seem." 

"Aye. Earth, belike a slumb'ring giant, waked 



134 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Revivified. Mountains,, symbol sublime 
Of heaven's truth, yielded as in enchanted 
Story long hidd'n treasures. Seas, 

blindly ruled. 
Gave gleaming forth from billowed depths riches 
Bewild'ring ; while lordly science, thrilling 
With new birth, flashed round the globe 

its messaged 
Lightnings, and wresting from air its wing-ed 
Secrets, called greetings voiceful o'er awestruck 
Continents ! Yea, every form of human 
Progress took up its harp and smote a new 
Triumphant chord. 'Oh, wond'rous age !' 

th' wide eyed 
Nations cry. 'Oh, marvelous awakening!' 
Proclaim the sages ; yet seeing they behold 
Not, nor hearing understand. Few as yet 
Th' astounding verity perceive, that earth 
The cycle of a mighty spiritual 
Change is entering, the which, 

by contrast 
With its vivid external progress, would 
Seem eclipsing darkness of all that doth 
To Christian hope pertain ; for war, 

fiercer. 
And more destructive than e'er in former 
History recorded, our hapless orb 
Convulseth." 

"Alas ! Wherefore this dread calamity ?" 
Asked Xanthe. 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. Ul 

"Evil and good, truth and falsity, dwell 
Not together without war, for God must 
Reign, and man by his own evils be made 
To see, suffer, and of free zvill 

renounce. 
Ere fitted to receive God's cleansing truth. 
More vital the deadly hold of sin, more 
Direful the dread upheaval. Thus is war 
Th' awful reck'ning day of Hell, 

that, breeding 
Monsters, is of its own vile progeny 
Devoured. But grieve we not as they, who thro 
This ghastly issue see not the ruling 
Hand divine, nor know that a day 

dawneth 
When nations drunk with blood and hellish hate 
Shall from their murd'rous madness wake at last 
To recognize themselves, not jungle-beasts 
Of fierce-fanged rapine, but men and brothers; 
Children of our Common Father, 

at whose 
Feet, earth contrite, shall the benediction 
Of His peace receive with new baptismal 
Glory of His Spirit's pentecostal 
Fire." 

XV. 

A moment's thoughtful silence fell, wherein 
Gay tropic birds thro greenish shadow flashed, 
Or called afar to wand'ring mates. Then, 
Spake I to Xanthe : 



136 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

"I comprehend not why ancient pagans 
Of our earth thy more internal planet 
Did personify as 'War;' or wherefore 
'Tis still by present day astrologers 
Our astral foe regarded. 
A fiery 

Light it hath, but other orbs give forth like 
Flaming rays." 

He smiled. ''Methinks no planet doth exist 

More peaceable than Mars, since war we know 

Not, nor its diabolic arts. 

Whate'er 

In apposition orbital hostile 

Or repellent seems, is but th' attitude 

In each of mental planes dissimilar. 

This, with its ruddy light 

by solar rays 
Refracted, the idea of war mayhap 
Suggested !" 

"Aye, doubtless this psychic disagreement, 
Rather than spacial distance, 

explaineth 
Th' oft repeated failures of our learned 
Scientists to send on wings electric 
A merry 'Good-morning !' to our neighbor." 

''Nay, while conditions opposite repel, 
Earth's failure to reach us hath another 
Cause; absence of telegraphy in Mars." 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 137 

"Telegraphy unknown in Mars?" 

''Nay, not unknown, but unemployed. 
Little 

Or naught care we for arts and sciences 
External. In such — from information 
Gleaned of spirits here — earth doth our planet 
Far excel. T' advancement psychic, 

rather 
Than material our efifort we direct." 

"What hast in lieu of our telegraphy?" 

"Thought transmission, accompanied by shade 
Or limbus of the messenger, that being 
Of finest earthly substances composed 
Is to the eye apparent." 

"How wonderful ! 'Tis with our scientists 
As yet a dream." 

"A dream we confidently may predict 
Will soon be realized. Rung by rung mount 
We th' eternal ladder of evolving 
Spirit, and to what heights sublime 

man may 
On earth thro rolling centuries attain, 
Who save th' Omniscient shall declare? 
Recordeth our planet many wondrous 
Instances of holy servants, 

who while 
In body carnal were in the spirit 



138 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

To realms beyond the bars of time and space 
Admit." 

"Similar, the records of our Sacred 
History," responded the President, 

"But chief on earth of God-illumined souls 
That psychic marvel, and phenomenon 
Of the New Ag^e, renowned as Swedenborg, 
Whose inspiration and pow'rs 

supernal 
No seer of Holy Writ e'er paralleled. 
Sage in lower life,, savant in heaven, dwelt 
He,, ambigenous, in two distinctive 
Worlds, companion of spirits and angels 
For twenty-seven years." 

"Astounding ! What his divine commission ?" 

"To herald the Master's advent, 
And the new dispensation of the Word's 
Internal or spiritual sense reveal; 
Also, since man's development required 
To drop the mystic veil that 

terrorized 
His false conception of the life beyond, 
'Twas needful a mortal of God prepared 
Should th' unseen worlds explore." 

Xanthe kindled. 

"Profoundly thou interestest me ! Hast 
Published memoirs of his journeyings?" 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 139 

''Aye, much of exploration hath he writt'n ; 
Also, labors Herculean in psychic 
Science and philosophy. His volumes 
In my library have honored place. Wilt 
Accept them, they are thine." 

"Thanks, gratefully! I shall each one enjoy, 
But chiefly his explorations, that though 
Mayhap in realms my rudimental state 
Admits not, shall my wanderings instruct." 

"He visited thy planet, and others 
Of our solar system ; also, cosmic 
Orbs to us unknown.'' 

"More and more, thou prick'st in me 
a livelier 
Interest. How hath thine earth this wondrous 
Revelation of new truth received?" 

"Never, without conflict, hath Divine Truths 
Its shining star-seed on our planet sown. 
Some, as in the Master's former advent, 
Gladly believe, tho vaster numbers 

shoot 
Out the lip contemptuous, crying 'impostor' 
Or 'insane' while others, by old doctrine 
Panoplied, shut as 'twere profane their ears. 
Yet watching angels patient abide, 

knowing 
The day long prophesied to earth is here, 
And tho she struggle in th' arms that tender 



140 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Her faithlessness enfold, she shall at last 

Upon His Breast in recognition ci*y : 
'My Lord, and My God!' " 

''Grant we may behold it soon, O Christ !" 

prayed 
Xanthe, and with one voice, we fervent breathed 
"Amen!" 

Said Israefel, whose thoughtful eyes Xanthe 
Regarded : 

"While much we do rejoice thou didst our earth 
Desire to explore, wherefore — if I may 
Ask — turned not thy primal thought 

to belted 
Saturn, or four-niooned Jupiter, rather 
Than to this least of planets?" 

"Least, aye, and greatest! For on this little 
Globe, 'mid weeping angels, and hosannahs 
Of triumphant hosts celestial, 

transpired 
Events the most stupendous of human 
History ! Here th' infinite Jehovah 
Was incarnate ! Here lived and gave His life 
For love the mightiest of heroes ! 
Here 'gainst 

Powers, and principalities of hell, 
And for issues, the magnitude whereof 
The finite mind may not conceive, 

was fought 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 141 

And won a battle that thrilled th' universe, 
And theme of themes shall be of every orb 
That rings its glorias adown th' infinite ! 
What Saturn after this? What Jupiter? 
Oh ! how oft, I watched this little star,, 

praying 
I might some day in spirit stand upon 
Its consecrated sod. The Lord's goodness 
Hath my soul answered. Here, where 

His Bless-ed 
Feet once trod, where to dying thief His promise 
He fulfilled, lift I unto His holy 
Mountains my adoring eyes, waiting th' hour 
When 'face to face ' I shall behold Him !" 

Silent,, with profound emotion I clasped 

His hand. Ah ! sweet the brother-love in Christ 

United ! 

''Nay, leave us not," urged Xanthe, when later. 

We reluctant bade adieu : 
''Our errand 

The city's exploration ; if thine, why 

Part we company?" 

"Thanks ! Happily co-incident our plans. 
Let us then together wend our way." 

Too long my story would I our wond'rous 
Wanderings relate, or all we in sweet 
Interchange of thought discussed 
that happy 



142 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Day. Xanthe, to whom each form of beauty 
Spake a language divine,, had in our fair 
White city much delight, oft lingering 
To sketch with explorer's pad and rapid 
Pencil some mountain vista, or templed 
Glory, that to his keen artistic sense 
Appealed. On our return the President 
Consented not our company we break, 
'Till of his festal cheer we had 

partak'n ; 
For while no weariness in spirit-life 
As on th' earth we know, the soul its seasons 
Of refreshing hath. Princely 

the mansion. 
That with music silver-stringed our entrance 
Greeted, and soon the spacious chambers thronged 
With guests for heavenly wisdom eminent, 
Of whom rejoiced I to meet in social 
Converse the learn-ed judges, whose 

recent 
Ruling chronicled my happy soul's first 
Victory thro' faith. So close affiliate 
Xanthe with our fraternity, he seemed — 
Apart from such small diff'rence, as manner 
Of speech alien betrays — a citizen 
Of our own communal, rather than one 
From distant planet new-arrived. 
Magnet 

Amid the shining galaxy he drew 
All thought, till later by the President's 
Request Israefel to hush expectant rendered 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 143 

With thrilling pow'r and sweetness, 

thro the deep 
Viol's low breathed following-, that joyous 
Canzonet of th' inspired bard : 

''How beautiful upon the mountains T 

Thereafter, by strains orchestral ushered, 
Our host with Xanthe to the banquet led. 

XVII. 

How may I, to earth's grosser sense, 

that feast 
Describe? Yet tho my lute 
Unworthy fail, or purer notes that find 
On lower plane no echo die unsung, 
Must I my heaven-appointed task 

pursue. 
Thro fountained court, rich in mosaic beauty, 
Passed we to a terraced loggia, fronting 
The vistaed Highlands, where gala roses 
Drooped in mazed festoons from pillared crystal. 
And lacy drap'ries, wrought 

as of mountain 
Mist and woodland shadows, swayed on th' incensed 
Air to music dreamy. Glittered midway 
The festal scene a splendent banquet-board 
Of gold-traced crystal, surmount with 

luscious 
Fruits and dewy orchids, vying vermeil-lipped 
Above a nectarous repast ; compounds 



144 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Of creamy nuts and honeyed-nard of flow'rs 
Prepared ; dainties, light as hoar-frost, 

of heaven's 
Manna ; conserves of deUcious fruits, t' earth 
Unknown, pooled in pellucid syrups rose 
And amber ; melons, ribbed deep in pulpy 
Crimson, green and gold, that riped not 

to sun 
Nor dew ; and miracles ambrosial, such 
As no cunning art t' appetite enslave^ 
Hath e'er conceived. Central amid these joys, 
A miniature fount of pure rubescent 
Wine flashed high a fragrant shaft 

of Hquid 
Light, that broad'ning at the crest a carmined 
Lily formed, ere to jeweled chalice 'twas 
Returned, a bubbling show'r. 

"Let us,'' said our host, "give thanks, 
and humbly 
Pray, that He who knoweth and provideth 
For our need, may thro these heavenly symbols 
Of his divine our souls with grace infil." 

As worshipful we bowed, I seemed to hear 
Again by ivied window of th' old home 
Church, while the warm sun thro Gothic pane shed 
Amethystine glory on th' op'n Word, sweet 
Voices of the choired children, intoning 
Clear : 

"Who crowneth thee with loving kindness, 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 145 

And tender mercies. Who saiisHeth thy 
Mottth ivith good things, so that thy youth 
Is rcneivcd as the cagles's." 

XVIII. 

Not, as in banquets of the lower life, 

Attendant service we required, for that 

We chose the spirit's magic instant served, 

Or traceless at a thought dismissed. 

As roves 

The honey-bee, fickle of choice. 

Mid rival colors and contesting sweets, 

So mine eyes the nectared feast, Israefel 

Meanwhile observant. His face 

illumined. 
When from a gold'n candelabrum, entwined 
With grapes, tinct in varieties of purple, 
Emerald, and glowing sardius, my final 
Choice, a miracle of pris'ned flame, declared. 

"No seer am I," he smiling said, "nathless. 
Thy preference my thought divined." 

''For that it was thine own?" 

''Nay, for psychic reasons more interior. 
In spirit life; our attitude in all 
Things, great or small, is by the ruling-love 
Determined ; and tho that love the Father 
Only knoweth, something of its 

hidd'n plane 
10 



146 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Is manifest to kinship true. The deep 
Significance of these blood-tinctured grapes, 
Linked correspondent with thy secret spring 
Of thought and voHtion,, governed 

thy choice. 
In this blest sphere, the sensories are heaven's 
Harps, ever to symbolic harmonies 
Attuned. But sin doth this divine accord 
Destroy, changing to dissonance. Organs 
Of taste, perverted thus, would then delights 
Repugnant find." 

"Repugnant? These?" I crushed a fragrant globe 
Between my lips. 

"Aye, this I once saw plainly demonstrate. 
A number of wand'ring gypsies, newly 
From earth arrived, and seeking diversion. 
Hither came. On their return they rudely 
Our orange-groves, freighted as now 

with gold'n 
Fruit, despoiled. I smile whene'er the comic 
Picture I recall, of their voracious 
Greed, and swift discomfiture, 

all hurling 
Afar their wanton plunder, or trampling 
Under foot disgusted." 

"A punishment as wondrous as grotesque." 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 147 

XIX. 

**Is not the same principle in earth-life 
Shown? To jaundiced eye all things 

are jaundiced ; 
Revolteth lip fevered from food healthful, 
And clamor such as would rack thy shrinking 
Ear affecteth savage as music sweet. 
Thus ever is sense to state obedient ; 
Tho more on earth unto intelligence 
Conformed, while here 'tis as the love 

alone 
Determineth, of self or of the Lord. 
These festal dainties no heavenly products 
Are, of season,, clime, nor spirit's mystic 
Art, but instant of divine pow'r 

create, 
Thro love and truth received into our souls. 
And thence in symbolic forms projected. 
What fruiteries, by gold'n suns and silver 
Rains caressed, may vie in tint 

or flavor 
With these clustered glories, fresh from divine 
Creative thought, or pulpy miracles, 
Such as thou strip'st of downy tegument?" 

*'Nay, they transcend comparison ; and what 
Is wonderful, within each fruit, methinks 
I do a subtle quality perceive. 
Distinct from taste or fragrance, 

and rarer 
Far than either. Something ineffable ! 
Divine! Is 't thus manifest to thee?" 



148 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

He smiled. "Aye, 'tis th' interior celestial 
Sphere, pervading exquisite this heavenly 
Feast, and readily of thee discerned since 
Correspondent with thy psychic plane ; else 
'Twere to thy senses wholly unperceived. 
Such the divine relationship 

of soul 
To type and symbol, that here partaking, 
We shall go forth infused with higher life, 
And strengthened in all righteousness." 

Later, the banquet o'er, our gracious host 
With upraised hand the hum of voices stilled ; 
Holding on high a gold'n beaker filled from 
The ruby fount. 

"Let us," he said, *'in this blest symbol, our 
Love and faith repledge to Him, 

'Who satisfieth the longing soul. 

And Ulleth the hungry soul zmth goodness.' " 

Rev'rent we responded, drinking as they 
At Cana's feast wine heaven-brewed ; 

and blessing 
His holy Name, who in the "better wine" 
Set forth the glories of his spiritual 
Word. Then passed the "Loving Cup" 

(a custom 
New to Xanthe) at touch whereof our hearts 
In sweet fraternal joys communed ; 
And now. 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 149 

As 'neath enchanter's potent rod, vanished 
All traces of the princely banquet ; while 
From the crystal board an efflorescent 
Vapor purpureal arose, filling th' air 
With aromatic fragrance, th' incensed type 
And offering of consecrated souls. 



PART III 

The whir of ring-doves passing my window 
Waked me from sleep. To souls in spirit-life, 
Whom unseen ministries for heaven prepare,, 
Come seasons introspective, 

succeeded 
By states of humility profound, when 
Best within us shadowed seems with selfhood. 
And sense of all unworthiness shuts heaven 
From our hope. Such yestermorn 

my chastening. 
Thereafter sweet peace had kissed mine eyelids 
Down, and restful as child on mother-breast 
I slept. Aroused by wing-ed stir, I lay 
A dreamy moment, watching the sun sketch 
Leafy frescoes on my chamber walls ; then 
Sprang from couch, threw wide the half -drawn 

shutters, 
And at th' op'n casement stood, drinking 

the view. 
Sparkled the hill-sides like cut emerald: 
The racing white-caps, pursued by sportive 
Lapwing, played 'gainst th' irised rocks for highest 
Their silv'ry spray, and a crisp breeze, 

freighted 
With blossomed almond, fanned my cheek. 
Oh ! fair 
Blest day, forc'er in memory enshrined ! 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE, 151 

"Thou art a mirror of this shining morn !" 
Said Israefel', who from his chamber door 
My coming greeted. ** Sweet sleep, hath of thee 
Made a very Phoebus !" 

I laughed. ''Singeth for me to-day the whole 
Glad world! Slept I long?" 

"Aye, past Zophar's lecture, and th' art class." 

"I would thou hadst awakened me." 

"Wherefore? We are not pensioners of time, 
Thou hast eternity before thee. Then 
Too, God's angel bringeth sleep, and none save 
He awak'neth. Thy picture of David 
The Shepherd King, wrestling with the lion 
For his hillside flocks, our great Art-Master 
Praised." 

The quick blood tingled from my heart to cheek. 
"Thanks, for the joyful message!" 

A boyish way he had with me of walking 
Arm about my shoulder. Together thus 
Entered we the breakfast chamber, 

fragrant 
With tempting fruits and fresh-culled daffodils, 
Where cups we poured of some delicious cheer 
To earth unknown. 

"A famous tenor entertains this morn, 
At Music Hall. Inclinest thither?" 



152 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

"Nay, hungers my soul to-day for nature's 
Thousand voices ; for orchestra of winds 
And woods and rushing streams, 
A call as 'twere 

Insistent. What say'st to a ramble thro 
The hills?" 

''Naught more to me appealeth, but promised 
Am I for Music Hall. Mayhap, I join 
Thee after." 

Hark'ning a well-known signal from without, 
He waved adieu, and with a merry band 
Departed. Their light, elastic voices 
Still lingered in th' air, when sought I, eager 
As schoolboy on a happy 

holiday. 
The harbor gate. O'erhead from blossomed bough 
Came vibrant clear the red robin's mating 
Call, and on my breast the rose 

still dewy 
Fresh, as when it fell a flaming tribute 
At my feet, breathed witching fragrance ; 
For fade 

Not flow'rs in this magic land, tho vanish 
They oft thro change of state. 

I. 

A rowboat decked 

In colors of our order danced the wave ; 
I sprang in lightly, grasped th' oars, 
and sped far 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 153 

Out thro rippling silver to th' eastern hills, 
Where, coasting close, gigantic palisades 
Of forest brawn, that gripped with 

gnarl-ed roots 
The mossy sod, and densely interlaced 
With vine, and thicket, wove to the lapping 
Waters a native fortress, challenging 
Invasion. Intent this forest fastness 
T' explore, and searching where least 

resistance 
My entrance offered, I drifted slowly 
Thro pellucid emerald, while gay-winged 
Birds flamed in green canopies, and timid 
Fauna anon from leafy covert peered. 
Ere long a pretty creature, 

velvet-eyed, 
Thrust shy thro scarlet tangle a milk white 
Head, and presently, with quick'ning pulses, 
I discerned th' outlines of a young gazelle, 
All spotless as its snowy myrtle bow'rs. 
Eager for capture, my boat 

in verdant 
Ambuscade I noiseless drew, observant. 
Once, to mine eyes, 'twas lost ; then reappeared, 
And soon, thro myrtle thicket that o'ergrew 
The marge, I saw my pretty quest 

descend 
And drink. The fortress gate was now revealed, 
And more ; for round the small white neck, so near. 
My boat's cord and I wished had noosed it, 

gleamed 
In the sun a slender band of jeweled 



154 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Gold. The prize I sought was clearly captive 
Of a fairer hand. My heart stirred 

strangely 
As it questioned "whose?" Moved now by impulse 
Deeper than sends th' wild bee on its honeyed 
Quest, the swift-winged swallow southward, 

I vowed 
To follow where my woodland pilot led. 
Slaking at cautious intervals its thirst, 
The graceful creature raised anon its head. 
Pink-dilate nostril, eye and ear alert, 
Thro dreamy silence, voiceful with 

lapping 
Wave, and rippling forestry. In fruited 
Branch directly o'er me a paroquet, 
So glossy green one scarce knew if 'twere bird 
Or leaf, tugged at a choice spray with horny 
Beak, wrenching it from the bough ; 

but missing 
Reward of its persistence, as plashing 
Noisy beside me fell the clustered prize. 
The doe started, my hiding place at once 
Espied and vanished with a bound. 
Quickly 

I followed, tethered in haste my little 
Bark, and up the shrubby steep sped nimbly. 
Alas ! my hoped-for guide had disappeared, 
As 'twere th' airy changeling of a tricksome 
Sprite! Vainly the turf for tiny 

hoof-prints 
Searching, I now a narrow trail descried 
Threading the forest tortuous, and opening 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 155 

A prodigal luxuriance of tropic 

Wild, that from its vivid splendor a sphere 

Of warm, magnetic life diffused, 

seeming 
At times half human. This, the symbolic 
Link, methought, 'twixt man and nature, 
That though 

On earth obscurely sensed, and ever veiled 
In mystery, peopled her ancient woods 
With dryads, satyrs, nymphs, and fauns, 

her seas 
With shell-wreathed tritons, and her mountain heights 
With sceptered deities. Each footstep 

probing 
The forest heart trod fuller arteries 
Of sylvan life and flora, more subtly 
Sentient revealed. Somewhere, not far beyond. 
Came muffled thunder of falling torrent, 
Deep'ning reverberate with my approach. 



II. 



And now sweet nature smote her harp anew 
To strain majestic. Billowed the teeming 
Earth abrupt in lofty hills and densely 
Wooded subsidence of Highland range, 

whence 
A thin line of silvVy mist the torrent's 
Course denoted. Thither, my ascending 
Way I wound, entering a deep ravine, 
Musky with wild blossomed grape, 

and vibrant 



156 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

With shock of the bold mountain stream, that rushed 
Tempestuous adown the slope to bow'red tryst ; 
But of its bouldered barriers impatient, 
Deflected left-ward, and plunging 

headlong 
Thro yawning scissure, fell thund'rous below 
In glen sequestered. Kneeling, I fashioned 
Of my hands a cup, and of the crystal 
Tide drank deep. How cold and pure, 

the sparkling 
Draught ! How pregnant of divine causation. 
Heavenly Truth ! The summit scarce I reached, when 
In thicket berry-laden a gleam of white 
Revealed the doe. A startled moment, eyeing 
Me it stood, then bounded forward, 

gamboled 
At my side,, and in its boisterous delight 
Had shredded from my breast the crimson rose. 
But that the pretty pet I held aloof 
Till its glad demonstrations ceased. 
What meant, 

This altered attitude? Was I for some 
Familiar forester mistaken ? Pond'ring 
Amused and curious th' eccentric humor, 
I slipped my fingers neath the banded gold. 
Turning it careful in the greenish light 
For mark of ownership. Discerned I none, 
But flashed methought responsive 

to my touch 
The jeweled clasp, a blood-red Sardius, 
Cut as a Damask rose. Involved the fair 
Design no sweet significance ? Was this 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 157 

Idyllic venture merest chance? Breeze, 

leaf, 
And droning bee, seemed murm'ring remembered 
Words : ''Chance is earth's coinage, meaningless here. 
All things are ordered, by the Love Divine." 
Sudd'nly, the doe halted ; head forward 

thrust, 
And ears pricked keen, in list'ning attitude. 
Naught heard I save the wind and rushing stream ; 
But nature's forest-child caught other sounds ; 
And joyous, as answ'ring some well-known call, 
Sped, leaping light as thistle-down from view. 

III. 

The path, obscurely climbing the ravine, 

Was at the summit lost in turfy growth ; 

But here and there small hoof-prints guidance gave. 

Intent, I these pursued, pausing 

at times 
Amazed and half -awed by this majestic 
Forest rolling eastward. Unlike the wood 
So lately passed, these terraced heights, 

billowed 
By nature in some larger thought, were void 
Of thicket-wood ; th' eye sweeping thro serried 
Ranks of giant boles that, like dark Druid 
Men of old'n tale, guarded with knotty brawn 
Their templed fastness. The free, hill-cradled 
Stream, by native ramparts pent, tore 
Sinuous 
Its rugged way, here foaming tempestuous 



158 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

O'er jutting rocks ; there, leaping dizzily 
From ledge to ledge, chanting t' applauding 

cliffs 
Its song of victory. Following these 
Changeful moods, I entered now another 
Broad defile rent thro the headland's heart 'twixt 
Frowning crags, that seeming would with bouldered 
Catapult resent the yawning scissure. 
But for the laughing sunshine, and strong arms 
Of greenly climbing plants that hugged them 

close, 
And laid wami-petaled lips in protest gainst 
Their roughened cheeks, as tho they secret leagued 
With nature for a vasty fernery, 
And won. Rippled the whole ravine with these 
Fair plumed and dew-spent children 

of the wild; 
Not like their ruder sisters of th' earth — save 
In such structure as to kind relateth — 
But exquisite, as elf-land shadows, 

tinct 
As th' elusive iris that hides in clefts, 
Or haunts the vapored hollows. Here, ling' ring 
With ardent love of all things 

beautiful. 
I seemed to hear,, faint as from distance borne, 
The vibrant notes of some stringed instrument. 
Again ! And now, tho fainter still, again ! 
Mounting a projecting ridge, 

I list'ning 
Stood. A lute ! Aye, by the touch, a ivomans 
Lute ! And not as methought afar, but dimmed 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 159 

To distance by the torrent's roar. Swiftly 
Descending", th' elf-like music now my guide, 
I followed the broad'ning ravine 

neath grove 
Of fruited trees, t' earth unknown, glimpsing thro 
Verdant rifts red-tufted polls of gold-green 
Cockatoos, eyeing me askance as gravely 
My invasion of their woody ramparts 
Questioning. Of these gay-coated 

troopers 
A bold captain, who without dela} would 
Settle the debate, dropped from his airy 
Barracks like a blazing torch, and perching 
On rocky parapet, stretched down a much 
Beruffled neck of anxious 

scrutiny ; 
Then back to watching comrades flamed, raucous 
His decree proclaiming. Presumably 
Acquitted I amused my way pursued, 
Reaching to left a gaping interval 
Of bouldered 'scarpment, showing 

precipitous 
Below a dimpled dell, so fair 'twould seem 
Nature designed it as a trysting-place 
For all her countless lovers ; where gold'n light, 
And velvet shadows ever chased, and where 
In wild rose coverts swift-footed faun might 
Hide and seek with wood-nymph play, 

or flow'r-capped 
Fairy dance with laughing elf to music 
Of Pan's reeds. As thus I dreamed, a fateful 
Pebble by my step displaced rolled bounding 



160 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Down the steep, falling audibly below. 
Instant, wraith-like from ferny brake 

appeared 
The white gazelle, that after a moment's 
Keen espial vanished, I saw not where. 
The music also had ceased to guide. Missed 
I in these echoed hills the trail? 
Perplexed 

I stood, when presently, so vibrant near, 
My pulses leaped, again the lute ! And now 
Th' unseen minstrel sang — 

"Wind of the perfumed-haunted isles 
That dream in southern seas. 
Sweet wanderer of velvet wing. 

Wafting love's messages, 
Come to my woodland bow'r, 
Come 'tis the mystic hour,, 
And whisper to me, 
To me! 

Singeth the silver nightingale 

In blossomed myrtle snow, 
And evermore he saith to me 

In tuneful cadence low, 
'The south-wind bloweth maid'n. 
And fairy ships love-lad'n. 
Are sailing to thee. 
To thee.' 

Bird of my waiting soul rejoice ! 
Thy sweetest measure pour. 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 161 

For the south-wind showers blossoms 

As he whispers from the shore, 
'A white sailed bark lies gleaming 
In harbor of thy dreaming, 
And hasteth thy lover 
To thee.' " 

IV. 

Oh ! soulful voice ! waking with its first sweet 

Note the music of my life ! No longer 

Hesitant, I looked below. 

A greenly 

Mantled mound of earth and crag, that fronted 

The bold declivity anear its base, 

Descent invited. Thither, by magic 

Will up-borne, silent and swift as glancing 

Light, I airy transit made ; there 

gazing 
Vision-tranced, as altared priest to whom hath 
Oped in moment rapt the heaven of his dreams ! 
Spirit of the true inspired Helicon, 
Touch me from thy baptismal fount ! 
Re-plume 

Mine earth-trailed pinions, and o'er this falt'ring 
Harp divinely breathe, that I of Her may 
Sing! Before me, half-hid in ivied rock. 
As 'twere a guarded secret of the hills. 
Sparkled a crystal grotto, 

intertrailed 
Minute with climbing water plants, that sucked 
The dripping crevices, and lavish paid 
11 



162 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

In leafy broideries, such as might deck 
The palace of a fay. Here, 

on mossy 
Dais reclined, the yielded lute beside her. 
She leaned in sweet abandon on her arm, 
Watching above a rill- fed rivulet 
The play of embryonic fish, 

that flashed 
Thro greenish light like splintered emerald. 
The clinging folds of some pure gossamer. 
As 'twere of morning mist and moon-beam spun. 
Her lissom grace defined, yet tender veiled. 
And 'scaped from bands of beaded pearl 

tresses 
Dusk as reluctant night that on th' evening's 
Glowing verge belated lingers, strayed silk'n o'er 
Her flow'r-like cheek, or wandered 

caressing 
To her jeweled zone. One little sandaled 
Foot, blue-veined, and white as chambered shell, 

drooped 
O'er the marge, where creviced hare-bells shyly 
Peeped, and gold'n butterflies hovered anear. 
To marvel at a form so dainty fair. 
All rev'rent, as before some minstered shrine, 
I stood, till by my gaze intense 

up drawn 
The fringing lashes lifted, and her eyes. 
Pellucid pools of heaven's innocence, dark 
And wistful as her pet gazelle's, rested 
Amazed on mine. A moment thus, 

I held 



rilE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 163 

Them magnetized, then springing to her feet, 
The tender apple-blossom of her cheek 
Deepened to vivid pomegranate. A bright 
Red rose, shak'n by the motion from her breast, 
Into the streamlet fell. Instant, 

I leaped 
Below, the glowing prize secured, and pressing 
To my lips, with smiling homage proffered. 

*'Let this sweet advocate," I said, ''my plea 
And pardon make. I grieve to startle thee !" 

''Nay," a regnant graciousness supplanting 
Sweetly her confusion, "Thou didst surprise. 
Not startle, since that word methinks 

conveys, 
What in our Father's House we know not, fear." 
Then, archly smiling, "No advocate thou 
Need'st, for in this park none entrance gain, save 
On divinely ordered errand bent." 

V. 

I took her unresisting hands, folding 

Them in mine upon my breast. 

Oh ! shell-pink 

Palms, fore'er of heaven ordained, the rosy 

Shekinah of my highest and holiest ! 

"Beloved, mine errand here is th' old errand 
Of th' universe ; of sun to earth, of sea 
To shore, of soul to divine-created 



164 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Counter-part ! Not twain are we, but one ! Thou, 
My life's warm-beating heart; I, thy Hving 
Breath ! Dost know this, dear ?" 

"Aye" — smiHng" thro tender mist of happy 
Tears — "I knew it on the day I saw thee 
First.'* 

''The day thou sazv'st me first? Didst dream of me. 
As I of thee?" 

"Nay, 'twas no dream when, armed with heaven's holy 
Truth, thou didst o'ercome the blasphemer!" 

"Thou near me, and I unknowing? 'Twere e'en 
As dawn should witless be of rosy light ; 
The sun, of warmth and radiance ! 
Ah ! traitors 
Were mine eyes to trick me thus at heaven's gate !" 

"Nay, true and loyal were thine eyes, steadfast 
On thy heavenly mission fixed. Mine, lesser 
Lights, beheld alone th' imaged form of truth 
In thee. But not upon that mount 

inspired 
Saw I thee first. 'Twas in the lowly vale 
Of wounded pride, and falt'ring faith, when fell 
The tok'n at thy feet and foolish hisses 
Rained. In thy set lip and bloodless cheek read 
I thy soul, and trembled ; but when 

thy hand 
Defiant clenched the gauntlet, my spirit 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 165 

Rushed to thine, and unseen as the viewless 
Wind, touched thine uphfted arm and heard 
The voice that spake to thee. Since then, 

my heart 
Hath been a secret gallery, wherein 
I set of thee dear pictures ; saying, 'Thus looked 
He on that day. and thus, and thus. 
Here, burned 

His eyes blue flame into my list'ning soul ! 
There, was he transfigured in the shining !' 
Each morn I waited, watching the telltale 
Faces of the flow'rs, when the wind whispered. 
And reading close sweet nature's 

message book 
For happy auguries, that should foreshow 
Thy coming. This morn, ere from deep slumber 
I awaked, a star-like lily, that ne'er 
Bloomed before, oped just beneath 

my window 
Its gold'n heart, shedding its witching fragrance 
Thro my dreams. Also to-day, my pretty 
Fawn that loves me w^ell, and guards this grotto 
A.s 'twere a temple and I, its vestaled 
Priestess, wandered for the first time 

afar. 
Vainly I searched the ferny brake, calling* 
By th' endearing names that prick attention 
In her small pink ears. Then blew I upon 
A pipe of reeds the warden of the park 
Gave me for signaling. Still 

the little 
Truant tarried, but ere long came bounding 



166 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Back, and resting her head between my hands, 
Gazed wistful in mine eyes, as tho she yearned 
A happy secret to confide, upon 
Her dumb lips sealed. Dear love ! How was't 

thou didst 
Surprise me, when 'twas writ so plain thou would'st 
Be here to-day." 

For answer I caught her to my glowing breast, 
Raining down kisses on her brow, her eyes, 
Her lips, her fragrant hair, with love's divine 
Impassioned ardor,, such as no 

moment 
Of our earthly life e'er knew. Methinks some 
Dark'ned soul exclaims : "What ! passion there ?" 
Oh! thou 

Profane ! whose sin dulled eyes distinguish not 
Th' angel's shining pathway from the serpent's 
Trail ! Approach not unto that holy mount, 
Oh ! ye unsanctified ! 'Tis not for souls 
Uncleansed to know that passion 

purified 
From carnal dross is heaven's hallowed fire, that 
On Ibve's holy altars doth descend thro 
Correspondence with divine creative 
Glory ! Upon our sin-marred planet reigns 
It at best a fall'n Lucifer, 

wearing 
On his shadowed brow the mark of exile ! 
Raptured, yet wholly rev'rent, I drew her 
To the mossy dais, placing in her hands 
The ribboned lute. 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 167 

"Sing me sweet the songs I heard, when thro these 
Leafy bow'rs love wand'ring sought thee!" 

She laughed as playful children, or the glad 
Rivulet that bubbled at her feet. 

"I cannot an' I would. The song was born ^ 
Of my soul's cry for thee, and since thou'rt here, 
Its vanished spirit I may not recall, 
As th' warm sun, in noontide splendor basking, 
May enter not again its twilight hour." 

'Then dearest, will I sing to thee !" 

VI. 

With bold true hand I swept the silver chords, 
That answered to my touch as to the skilled 
Musician's practised art; and void of doubt. 
Or hesitance, as the male bird 

that pours 
His sweet inspired sonnet to his list'ning 
Mate, I lifted up my voice, thrilling with 
Love's vibrant tenderness ; while nature from 
Her minstered aisles responses undertoned, 
With bird, and stream, and whisp'ring palm, 

unto 
Th' old, old story ! As died the rhapsody 
In air, I drew her to my breast, kissing 
Away the happy tears, that, mutely on 
Her lashes beaded, spake what the trembling 
Lips essayed not. Near by, two mated 

doves 



168 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

White as the blossomed bough whereon they 

swayed, 
Spread wing and, whirring thro the grotto, thrice 
Circled o'er our heads ere vanishing. 

"See!" I exclaimed, "Th' auspice of our bridal! 
God speed it !" 

Her eyes, alight with wistful joy, followed 
The heavenly augury. 

*'0h ! bridals blest!" she softly said, "where broods 
No fear of change, nor parting ; where on love's 
Gold'n sea no ships go down, nor plow 

half-wrecked 
Thro sobbing waves to shore ; but e'er in heaven's 
Surety embark, storm knowing not, nor stress. 
Unto eternity !" 

The while she spake, I watched all magnetized 
The changeful play of tender thought, that chased 
Like April sunlight o'er her flow'r-like face, 
Lost in the wonder of it ! 

"Methinks," musing she continued, "heaven's crown 
Of crowns is love's emancipation from 
Earth's grim specters, Doubt and Fear! 

The shadow 
Of loss in that whereon we pledge our more 
Than life hovers o'er our marriage altars, 
Haunteth our dreams, and ofttimes Banquo-like 
Ariseth at our feasts, passing betwixt 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 169 

Us and the warm red wine we sip, till Death, 
Our hberator, saith : 'No farther !' '' 

''Who made thee sweet thus sorrow-wise? 
'Twould seem, 

So child-Hke fair art thou, the dark specter 
On thee looking, relented, and passed by." 

"Nay, the griefs of whom we love are ours. Two 
Sisters dear had I on earth. One, a sweet 
Vale-lily, her fond heart did break for love 
That faithless and unworthy proved. 
Th' other 

A gallant sailor wedded, but alas ! 
The cruel sea divided them. His ship 
In raging storm went down, and ne'er was heard 
Of more. Then, dearest of my friends was she, 
Who grew with me from childhood, 

like twin buds 
Upon one stem, till he to whom her troth 
Was plight a canker 'twixt us came. 
What tho 

I loved him not, and scorned his faithlessness ? 
The breach was made ! Ah, happy, happy we, 
Fore'er from mortal heritage immune !" 

"Aye dear, and happier, in that we sorrow's 
Chastening knew. Come we into the lower 
Life sin-warped, and in the Father's image 
Grow not, save thro pain. Too brief as yet our 
Soul's experience, too limited 
our thought. 



170 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

For dimmest dreams of heaven's least blessedness. 
If in this border-land our fondest hopes 
Pass not the rimmed horizon of love's glad 
Immunities, what, as the ages roll, 
Of its fruition, and development 
In glory?" 

She leaned her head upon my breast,, quoting 
In half-whispered reverence : 

^'Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, 

Neither have entered into the heart of man, 
The things ivhich God hath prepared 
For them that love him." 



VII. 

Presently, she took the lute and rippled 
Thro a fragment of my song. 

"Dearest, in our long honey-moon, wilt teach 
Me to sing as thou?" 

I smiled. "Thou hast no need ; since all of song 
I know was learned of thee!" 

''Of mer 

"Aye, ne'er till this day I sang, nor music 
Waked of any instrument. The gold'n fount 
Of song was sealed within me. 'till thou, sweet 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 171 

Sorc'ress, oped its hidd'n spring. As pressed 

my lips 
To thine,, flooded all my soul with music. 
And love to thee its raptured story told !" 

"How marvelous!" 

"This, the true Wonder-world, where mighty love 
The soul's magician is, whose magic reigns 
As law eternal ! Where live again our 
Buried hopes and vanished dreams ! 
Where witching 

Tales of old enchantment, and the thrice dear 
Fairy-land, that blessed our childhood, 

and trailed 
Their perfumed mem'ries thro all our after 
Years, come true! Where living Faith, our heavenly 
Aladdin's lamp, evoketh what it will ; 
And love with gold'n-star tipped wand 

our lowly 
Estate to princely palace doth transform. 
Where elf and fay, as infant innocence, 
Dance meads celestial, and where we happy 
Greet again, from fancy's fair dream-kingdom, 
The little sceptered pow'rs of casteled 

clouds, 
And deep-sea palaces ; of wild thyme banks, 
And cradled cowsHp bells, transfigured all 
To glorious realities, as angels 
And ministers of grace." 

"Ah ! true ! divinely true ! Too fettered our 



172 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Souls on carnal plane to realize that 
All earth's fairest ideals are living truths,. 
That need but breath of spirit atmospheres 
To show them form and substance." 

I leaned, and pressed with my lips the dewy 
Rose that nestled in her hair. 

"Methinks the little hand that plucked this rose 
Holdeth the secret of its counterpart 
Upon my breast." 

She laughed. "Ah ! wondrous wizard ! Canst also 
Guess the hand that answered from the fleet 
Thy signal?" 

''Methought a lily nodded in the sun ; 
Nor erred I widely there !" 

" 'Tis meet I whisper thee a compact Love 
Hath secret with me made, whereby he shall 
Fore'er with liis most potent spell thine eyes 
Bewitch." 

" Tis also meet love shall the compact seal ; 
But since the wing-ed boy is blind, he hath 
Deputed me his notary, with charge 
Of seven seals. Thus, one for thy lily brow, 
Two for thine eyes, one for each velvet 

cheek, 
And two for the crimson bow. whence sendeth 
Forth the little god his gold'n darts !" 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 173 

"Thou subtle notary ! 'Tis plain the rose 
Thou wearest doth invoke a tricksome sprite, 
Wherefore, I for another do depose 
It. This" — her slender fingers transference 
Deft efifecting — "is a most 

staid rose,, 
That on my lattice hath been wisely trained." 

"Since it hath lain in thy sweet tresses meshed, 
Exhaling thence a dual fragrance, 'tis 
An unwnse exchange ! Said'st thou 'twas on thy 
Lattice trained ? Then, to thy bow'r familiar, 
'Twill be my guide!" 

Her light elastic laughter tinkled thro 
The grotto. 
"Oh ! thy dear ignorance ! Art not aware 
That only heaven's-appointed messengers 
Enter the white city of our eastern 
Hills?" 

"Nay„ little know I of thy fair city, 
Save 'tis the casket that doth hold my pearl of pearls.'' 

''Then come with me to a clear space beyond 
This leafy zone, and I will point thee where 
It lies. There is no city like it here, 
Nor on th' earth, tho 'tis said its prototype 
Is seen in heaven." 



174 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

VIII. 

From arborescent twilight passed we hand 
In hand thro sunlit meadows, starred 

with bloom, 
And flecked with fleecy snow of browsing lambs, 
To the green shoulder of a lofty ridge, 
The subsidence of heaven-kissing headlands 
Ranging eastwards. Midway 'twixt these, 

clear 'gainst 
Th' azure dome, appeared a wondrous vision. 
Akin to that phenomenon we know 
In lower life as mirage, tho diflf'ring 
In philosophy, since here the symbol 
Not th' object was reflected. 
A vasty 

Lily, pure as snow,, its petals nimbused 
Faint with irised light, shone in the purple 
Distance like a gigantic star. 
Silent 

And rev'rent I turned to meet th' earnest eyes 
On mine fixed questioning. 

''Dost understand?" 

"Aye, 'tis divinely manifest. The church 
As a whole, by woman represent, hath 
In yon great white lily 

its inmost 
Or celestial type ; hence, 'tis of thy fair 
City and its angelic sisterhood 
The mirrored symbol. How worshipful 1" 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 175 

*Ah ! dearest, not ever pure and perfect 
As to-day shineth the heavenly Hly. 
Fadeth it oft to dimly outlined haze ; 
And oft thro clearly visible 

dark films 
Its lustrous petals mar ; for read we there, 
As 'twere a psychic dial, our faulty 
Deflections from the true spiritual sun. 
Let us now by near approach the symbol 
In external form dissolve." 

Borne onward thro th' air as by enchanted 
Wand, we reached a lofty eminence whence, 
Looking downward, we beheld 

a towered 
City, white and luminous as sea-pearl, 
Sparkling in the morning sun with countless 
Minarets, and formed in vast concentric 
Orbits to the billowed hills,, 

effecting 
Th' appearance of a colossal basin, 
Wound to rimming emerald with snowy 
Lilies. The circling spaces were gardens 
Edenic, silv'ry with fountains, 

and bright, 
With gay-hued birds, that swept in flaming curves 
From gold'n dome and sun-kissed spire 

like rockets 
In pyrotechnic carnival. No more. 
By distance barred, could I behold, save far 
To left a white-capped lake or inland sea. 



176 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Where courtesied, as in stately 

minuet 
To partners of a crystal under-world. 
The rosy fleet ! 

*'0 heavenly city !" I enraptured cried ; 

"Thou shalt not ever bar me from thy gates 
Elysian ! Soon, shall thy shining portals 
Ope to welcome me, triumphant bridegroom !" 

''Aye," softly she responded, " 'twill be soon ! 
The happy day we know not, but e'en now 
Methinks I read in nature's auguries 
Its rosy heralds." 

''Hath e'er the heavenly departure witnessed?" 

"Nay, op'n vision of celestial glories 
Is not here accorded ; but something know 
We of the blest transition, thro angel 
Guardians. Th' eventful morn, the happy bride 
To presence awakes of naked 

cherubs 
Hovering above her, wreathed in lilies. 
And bearing the wedding garment wherein 
She is by them arrayed. The jasper gates . 
To music rapturous unfold. A sphere 
Of heavenly beatitude, shed as from 
Incensed altars, pervades th' air : 

and afar 
Float down the golden echoes of angelic 
Song. Oh ! holy mystery !" 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. Ml 

IX. 

''Veiled thus to awed and wond'ring Israel, 
Entered Highpriest into the holiest. Thus 
Too, to tryst ineffable, on Horeb's 
Flaming mount, ascended the veiled Moses. 
Descended to our earth in carnal veil 
Redeeming God ; and opening of the Word's 
Internal sense, as also 

our holy 
Union with Christ glorified, are shadowed 
In rent veil, and riv'n sepulcher ! 
One grand 

Pattern hath th' universe; Himself! Recall 
I oft, ashamed, my fatuous conceit, that 
Many portions of the Word, accepted 
As inspired, are but external ideas 
Of human thought, confused 

at confluence 
With infinite ; such as Jehovah God 
To templed furnishings descending; cords, 
Curtains,, candlesticks, and the long series 
Apparently inconsequent. 
Also 

In books prophetical, seeming absurd 
Commands to holy servants giv'n. 
Oh ! blind 

Presumptuous folly that looked in Wisdom's 
Starry eyes, and knew her not : inquiring 
'What doth she here?' That rushing in profane 
Where angels rev'rent kneel, sees 

but the rude 
12 



178 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Encrustments of God's jeweled truth, and stamps 
It spurious! How, in the broad'ned periscope 
Of this new Hfe, shrivels our inflated 
Judgment ! How transcendent shines the Word !' 

"Methinks, as mother-love smiles tender down 
On babe that blindly smites with puny fist 
The warm, fuU-flaggoned breast whereat 

it clings, 
So God our self-assertive folly doth 
Regard, ordaining in His Providence 
That each presumptive battery of doubt 
Shall ever fuller effluence evoke 
From th' unfailing well-spring of His holy 
Love and truth/' 

X. 

''Thy perfect illustration doth in our 
Ignorance and impotence the secret 
Of heaven's eternally unsated joy 
Discover. The brute brain its little all 
Of knowledge and affection 

connate hath. 
Man, blinder and more helpless born than mole. 
Never his highest doth attain ; but e'er 
Beyond the blessedness we know beckons 
The vistaed glory of a higher. Thus, 
Faithful as we follow Him, 

partaketh 
Our finite of His infinite. Oh ! thought, 
With bliss a-reel„ together, heart to heart 
And hand in hand, we shall that 

shoreless deep 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 179 

Explore, where every sunlit billow bears 

Some truth afire with God ! Where each far blue 

Horizon its effulgent veil uplifts 

To sweeter knowledge of immortal life ! 

When was 't first we met? In yon 

green-caverned 
Palace of the Dryad Queen, or conscious 
Lovers dwelt we in creative thought, ere 
Earth a molt'n globule glazed its cycled path ? 
Methinks no moment was when thee I knew, 
And loved not !" 

"Aye, love baptizeth us into its own 
Infinity, that no beginning hath, 
Nor end ; linking us a part of all that 
Was, and is, and shall be; making 

our souls 
Th' ever haunted halls of echoes, touches. 
Voices,, and unwritt'n harmonies, that float 
Adown the hoary ages ! For sang love 
When the stars were young the same music that 
Thrilleth us to-day ! Aye, 'tis here, 

methinks, 
Th' old philosophy — metempsychosis — 
Still held by certain of our earth, its source 
Derived. Souls keenly sensitized at times 
These echoes of the cosmic belt mistake 
For states in former life, and thus 

was born 
That vampire bat with human face we call 
Re-incarnation." 



180 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

"Oh ! thou kaleidoscopic wonder ! Scarce 
A moment since, 'twas as sweet singing-bird 
Thou didst the glen with raptured music fill ; 
Now subtly art thou turned 

philosopher ! 
But cold philosophy, man's bloodless steed, 
Is at thy woman's magic touch transmute 
Unto a flame-eyed Pegasus, that feeds 
On flow'rs grown in meads celestial ! 
Who taught 

Thee sweet t' wear the sage's venerable 
Cap as doth Titania her cowslip hood ?" 

''Nay," — laughing — "there are no woman sages. 
Ruth-like we follow, gleaning at noon where 
Boaz in the morning passed. Men struggle 
With nature, wresting from her with iron will 
Truth's hoarded grain. Come we after, 

binding 
With love the sheaves of knowledge won, winning 
Thereby a heritage richer than all 
Their harvest. Woman, true, hath climbed to fame ; 
But never, save where man with 

mail'-ed hand 
Hath hewn the path before her. 'Tis God's own 
Plan ; the matchless pattern of th' universe. . 
Thou'rt our sun ; we,, thine inseparable 
Moon, and in thine own reflected glory 
Are we glorified." 

Entranced, I gazed into her luminous 
Uplifted face. 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 181 

"Shine on, with all the tender witchery 
Of thy dear light, belov-ed moon, whose pure 
Effulgence doth my soul illume, 

touching 
Its unworthy shadows to supernal 
Beauty, and moulding th' earthly to image 
Of its heavenly ideal !" 

XL 

The last-breathed word yet trembled on my lip 
When, fluttering overhead, a milk white-dove 
Descended on the little blue-veined hand 
That rested confiding on my shoulder. 

"Ah, love !" she sighed, "Behold the messenger 
That tells us our happy tryst is o'er !" 

Impatient, I thrust the bird away that, 
Hovering anear, perched on a flow'ring 
Thorn, with plaintive coo. 

"Nay ! Nay ! thou shalt not leave me ! 
In this fair 

Kingdom Love is king, and therefore highest 
Law! Who doth precede me here?" 

"The King of kings!" she rev'rent whispered. "This 
White-winged courier is from His angel 
Who hath charge. We part but for a while." 

"Appointest no trysting ere thou leavest me?" 



182 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

*'Nay ; as the Lord thee here directed, so 
In His own time and way meet we again." 

Silent, I folded her unto my heart. 

Oh ! bitter sweet ! Oh, raptured pain ! 

One draught 

Of heaven's perfect bliss, then yearning arms clasped 

Empty air! Ere turned my feet reluctant 

From bow'rs that still her fair young 

presence 
Breathed, I found myself by spirit's magic 
Transit where tossed my tethered boat, below 
The woody palisades. Dear God ! how changed 
And glorified my life since here so late 
I stood ! Profoundest gratitude 

my soul 
O'erwhelmed and, grasping th' oar, my voice in song 
Of praise arose, 'till all the sunlit hills 
With joyful hosannahs rang. 
Israefel, 

His face irradiate, my coming greeted, 
While both extended hands closed warm o'er mine. 

''And so, thou fair-haired minstrel, thou hast found 
The gift of song !" 

"And her!" I answered, the sky-lark's buoyant 
Gladness in my voice. 

"Of that thy deep-souled song assurance gave. 
Since onlv love's divine such music wakes. 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 183 

Let us to yon terraced green repair, 

whilst 
Thou thy heavenly idyl dost relate." 

How sweet to me, remembrance of that hour, 

When on the velvet sward recHned 

I oped 

My heart unto my brother, while the brown 

Thrush poured his silver interlude, the breeze 

Shook petaled fragrance at our feet, 

and thro 
Green rifted umbels fell the sun 
In gold'n pools of trembling light. 
The happy 

Story told, as only raptured lovers 
Tell, Israefel, his countenance illumined. 
Arose, his hand extending. 

'Come with me," he said, "t' yon green eminence. 
Where a joyful message happily 
Await I, too, have something sweet to tell." 

A prescient glance of startled inquiry 
I gave, and followed him. 

Purposed was I to join thee on yonder 
Headland, but the Divine Hand that thither 
Led thee my steps arrested. Light brighter 
Than midday sun about me shone whence spake 
As 'twere an angel's voice, saying: 

'Go not forth unto the hills ; the mountains 
call.' 



184 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Ere passed the heavenly effulgence, floated 

To my sense, with breath of violets, music 

Of wedding march triumphant. Brother ! th' hour 

Of my soul's divine baptism is anear ! 

Soon shall the heavenly summons 

come to thee ; 
But not till God hath shown thee wondrous things ; 
For thou unto a special work, art chosen 
And prepared. The nature of thy 

guidance 
Know I not, but dimly as thro twilight, 
I seem to see thee girding thy spirit's 
Strength for a strange journey. Fear not, 

neither 
Be thou over-bold. Who goeth before 
Thee on thy way, is He who led the camp 
Of Israel!" 

XII. 

And thus he spake a glory transcendent 
Smote him, and I was alone ! Profoundly 
Agitate, and pondering his parting 
Words, I in th' empty air still vacant gazed, 
W^hen conscious of some kindred sphere I turned, 
To greet with joyful surprise, 
Gamaliel ! 

"Ah! doubly art thou welcome!" I exclaimed, 
''Since Israefel, my friend and well-beloved. 
Hath e'en this moment from me passed." 

'T saw the bridal retinue, as went 
It forth to meet him." 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 185 

''Relate it me I pray, if 'tis permit." 

He smiled into mine eager eyes, amused, 
Yet tender, as one a little child would 
Answer, asking for that beyond its ken. 

"No secrecy the heavenly transition 
Doth involve, but glories of the inmost 
Kingdom are to lower plane of spirit 
Thought ineffable, and thus thro language 
Incommunicable. This shalt 

thou know 
Hereafter." 

His hand upon my shoulder, in loving- 
Salutation laid, a sense of added 
Strength distinct imparted. 

*T bear thee tidings ! 'Tis the Master's will 
Thou dost a distant journey with me take." 

My pulses leaped. The prophecy it seemed, 
E'en now, fulfilment found ! I reverent 
My head inclined. 

''His servant to obey am L" 

"Art ready?" 

"I am ready!" 

"Well spok'n ! Let us then forthwith depart !" 



PART IV 

Swiftly behind us the city faded, 
And soon in lonely distance disappeared. 
A thin grey mist the former cloudless blue 
Obscured, strange birds cried shrilly, 

and th' erewhile 
Pleasant path grew roughly devious, leading 
Now thro thorny cactus and low brambled 
Growth, where central amid four compassed ways 
A great white stone divergence marked. 
Here our 

Northward course I had continued,, but paused, 
Admonished by my guide. 

'Not there !" he said. "We pass a way thou hast 
Not journeyed hitherto." 

'Westward.^" 

'Aye : The path we follow here the Lord hath 
Chosn." 

x\pproaching on our left a gloomy wood, 
The sound of hasty footsteps my backward 
Glance directed, e'en as two dark-browed men 
Stumbled upon the stone, and headlong fell. 
Foul curses muttering, they painfully 
Arose. I touched my guide. 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 187 

"See ! One is bleeding ! Shall we assistance 
Proffer?" 

"As thou wilt." 

Advancing, I them accosted. 

"Friends, by the south road-side is pure water. 
Here's my kerchief ; let us bathe and bind thy 
Wounds." 

The darker of the two, who scowled, and nursed 
His hand, furtive at his companion glanced. 
Who limping forward eyed us suspicious. 
But with feigned courtesy replied : 

"Thanks ! Not serious the hurts, and urgent 
Business ours. No cause for stumbling we find — 
Looking about him keenly — but in some 
Way, I know not how,, tripped we violent 
On what hath cut and bruised us sore." 

"Why 'twas the stone!" amazed I said. 

"Stone? what stone? we see none here." 

To Gamaliel I turned, in mute appeal. 

"Come!" impatient th' other muttered, plucking 
At his companion's sleeve. "No time to lose 
Have we in parley with these fools." 



188 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Thus, ending the colloquy, they hasty 
Plunged into the darksome wood, and soon were 
Lost to view. 

"This incident," significantly said 
My guide,, "begins what thou art here to learn. 
These men who spake with us are murderers, 
Fleeing — as they beheve — from justice. 
On earth, 

They fled red-handed ; straightly were pursued, 
And struggling fiercely with their captors, slain. 
So instant their transition to this life. 
They hold no other thought than that 

they still 
Live on th' earth, 'scaped from the deadly contest, 
And seeking to elude arrest. The hand 
Thou saw'st wounded and bleeding is the hand 
That did the deed ! The stone of their stumblinsf 
Is the stone of Truth, and guards the highways 
South and east. This, sin-blinded, they perceived 
Not." 

"How didst thou their crime discover?" 

'T read their memories ; 'tis writt'n there." 

Entered we now the gloomy wood, by paths 
Worn sinuous thro matted grass, and spiny 
Under-growth, tending ever obliquely 
Downward. Thick, interlacing boughs of dark, 
Forbidding trees, the paling sunlight 
drank, 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 189 

While dusk-winged night-birds swept thro 

deep'ning gloom. 
The foul vampire flitted, and shrilled afar 
The prowling panther's quav'ring cry. 

''Be careful here!" cautioned Gamaliel. 
Scarce from his lips the warning fell, when 'twixt 
My feet a spotted viper hissing slid. 
Presently, the wind arose, and the great 
Wilderness, tossing its mighty arms, 

moaned 
As in pain ; the level earth heaved in vast 
Ridges, or sudd'n yawned abysmal,, as though 
Recoiling upon itself, affrighted. 
My guide paused here, and from his breast 

a cross 
Of shining silver drew. 

"Take this," he said, ''grasp firmly, and hold 'twixt 
Thee and whatsoe'er may threat'ning show." 



And now, the habit of nature ghastly 
Changed ; her leafy vestments dropped from her, dry 
xA.nd sere; her lusty brawn shriveled, deformed, 
Tossing as with bony arms 

and fleshless 
Fingers, or else took on a human guise. 
In bloated and diseased protuberance, 
Seeming to leer upon us as we passed. 
I shuddered, and mv cheek with horror 

blanched. 



190 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Gamaliel his hand upon my shoulder 
Laid, my veins with vital warmth re-kindling, 
And timely ; for presently a leopard. 
From his rocky lair emerged, 

slid crafty 
On his belly toward us noiseless. Nearer 
Approached, the beast was to our eyes revealed, 
A human monster, stealthy and murd'rous 
Upon us creeping. Finding his 

artful 
Tactics vain, he boldly now confronted, 
Demanding at the poniard's point jewels 
And gold ; meantime thro signal 

re-in forced 
By darker and more brutal than himself. 
My guide unmoved, stood silent. 

I raised the cross, whereat they cowering, 
As savage beasts before a blazing torch. 
Malignant slunk away. 

*'Who are these creatures, and what do they here?" 
I asked. 

''A class of evil spirits, who infest 
These woods, and who on earth were 

highwaymen. 
By correspondence with their cruel craft 
They at a distance appeared as leopards. 
Among these cavernous abodes they dwell, 
Th' approaches secret scouting, for such their 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 191 

Madness, they still believe themselves 

on earth, 
With power to slay as erst the bodies 
Of their fellow-men." 

''Tendeth our mission unto hell?" 

"Aye. Of Divine Love and Wisdom, the dire 
Pilgrimage. His purpose know we not, nor 
Need we know. In His own blest time and way 
'Twill be revealed. Trust all to Himf 



A thrill of exultation in my voice 
Rang, as king 
The bugfle-cali. 



Rang, as king-commissioned soldier who hears 



't>' 



'Rejoice I, Gamaliel, to be worthy 
Found of service to my Lord and King ! How 
Direful soe'er the journey. He leadeth, 
And thou my captain !" 

IL 

A gulch precipitous we presently 
Descended, where haggard trees,, like leprous 
Mendicants, clutched at our garments, 

while perched 
On bossed excrescence of rotting boles, 
That awful semblance bore to human skulls. 
The horn-ed owl all glassy staring whooped 
Sardonic. Beyond,, a range of sooty 
Mountains belched volcanic. In one of these. 



192 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

At base, a frightful cavern yawned, 

kenneled 
By double-headed hounds, that clam'rous frothed 
Thro lurid glare. Marveling, the meaning 
I inquired. 

" 'Tis the mouth of hell ! We enter there. Let 
Not its seeming barriers thy soul dismay. 
The monstrous forms thou seest are illusive 
Films of fiendish hate and filthy lust, that 
Thro infernal correspondence threatening 
Show." 

Nearer approached, a noisome cadaver 
Thence arose, as of putrescent bodies. 
Whereat I sick'ning reeled. My guide his hand 
Waved thrice, and the foul atmosphere 
was cleansed. 

"The fetor of hell," he said, "is ever 
Correlate to such as in trespasses 
And sins are dead ; by whom they are 

perceived 
As odors sweet. Inversely, the fragrance 
Of heavenly spheres revolteth them. 'Tis best 
We enter here invisible. Follow 
Thou me !" 

Downward, 'twixt sulphurous and smoking rocks, 
Mid rumbling noises of volcanic fires,. 
Descended we now into a lower 
Opening, whence a red glare of light and heat 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 193 

As from a furnace issued, with 

grating- 
Sounds of gnashing teeth, the which, (jamaHel 
Informed, denoted disputations fierce. 

Thro this we entrance made into what seemed 
An endless cavern, chambered by pillared 
Conformations, not unlike stalactic 
Junctions of earth's mountain caves. Here, 

countless 
Numbers,, male and female, sat at tables, 
Gambling in ways diverse, and not 

as such 
On earth appear, with passion mute repressed, 
But raging boist'rous, like angry breakers 
Of a stormy sea. Some railed o'er luckless 
Dice with impotent clenched fury; 

Or whelmed — 
As they believed — in ruin, strode wild-eyed. 
And ghastly from the scene. Others wrangling 
Fierce, dealt out the spotted pack, while many 
More — a greedy horde — pressed wolfish about 
The fatal wheel. 

"Vast numbers of these insane," Gamaliel 
Remarked, "believe themselves in that resort 
Of wealth and fashion, vice and misery. 
Known widely on earth as Monte Carlo. 
Such, the dark group upon thy left." 

His indication following, I saw 
What for a time my gaze held riveted. 
13 



194 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Ventures (seemingly) were high; emotions 
Tenses. The central figure, a decrepit 
Crone, watched vulture-beaked the swift 

revolving 
Disc, uttering at loss a croaking cry, 
Or shrieking in hollow owl-like laughter 
As her hook-ed talons swept the gains. 

"That wretched circle," said Gamaliel, "held 
Once in European courts distinguished 
Rank. The frightful female, o'er her winnings 
Gloating, a rich viscountess was, for wit 
And beauty famed. She wrecked in ways 

here shown 
Her husband's millions, drove him to suicide, 
And ended her earthly life a pauper. 
Begging bread. The foul creature at her side- 
A Russian Baron in his little day, 
Of fortune princely — was the dark 

tempter 
To whom she sacrificed her chastity, 
And husband's honor. Neither now th' other 
Doth remember." 

III. 

From chamber to chamber of these grisly 
Horrors passing, we paused before a group 
With cards in curious devices painted. 
All, tho ragged and filthy, 

the gaudy 
Finery of Spanish hidalgo wore. 
The faded colors, and tarnished tinsel, 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 195 

Pathetic with their ghastly hvidness, 
Contrasting. Of these one had by knavish 
Trick his dark opponent whehned 

in despair 
Knowing not, sin-bHnded, the bankrupt gambler 
Was on earth his son. The wretched victim, 
Plucking a stiletto from his belt, 

plunged 
Vengeful in his foeman's breast, the trickster 
Falling face downward. Horror-smit, my state 
Invisible forgetting, I quickly 
To his succor sprang ; but my watchful guide 
Restrained me. 

"Nay," he admonished, "thy touch would harmful 
Prove, since to his ruling love thy heavenly 
Sphere is contrary." 

"Poor spirit ! Are there none to care for him ? 
A shot dog methinks should some small pity 
Here evoke !" 

"Nay, these are they in whom all love, 
save that 
Of self, is dead. Yet, not uncared for, this 
Poor prodigal ! The 'Good Physician' doth 
Not tarry ! He is here !" 

"So still he lies, the spark of life doth seem 
Extinguished !" 

"Aye; such tragedies are daily in these 



196 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Hells enacted. Some, after a few hours, 
Revive; others, for three days unconscious 
Lie ; and this, by divine Providence ; since 
For that time their evils are quiescent." 

"What of the murderer? for such in vile 
Intent is he." 

"Existeth in all spheres of this dread world 
A class of evil spirits, punitive, 
Known as 'Avengers y who with poor pretense 
Of public use their baleful powV wielding, 
Live solely for delight 

malevolent 
Li human woe. Thus, in some small degree. 
Is hell restrained, and they, the punishers, 
Likewise from fiendish cruelties withheld. 
By angels of heaven's watchful care, beyond 
Whose Hmitations dare they not. 
Behold, 
E'n now, the bailiffs of the direful band !" 

I looked, and saw approaching four demons, 
Uniformed in black and red, with pointed 
Caps of bluish flame alternate changing 
In respiration to vivid 

scarlet, 
Perversions of heaven's love and truth thereby 
Revealing. Not as the spirits of these 
Gambling hells, their monstrous faces ; 

but dark 
And fiery ; their swart bodies effluvia 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 197 

Emitting, such as in dens of savage 

Beasts perceived. Roughly their trembUng 

pris'ner 
Seizing, they bore him unresisting from 
Our sight, the deep hush that followed 

the dread 
Attesting, wherein these officers were 
Held. 

"Let us," said my guide, "pass on." 

IV. 

Thro many caverned sections, similar 
In main to these, we came unto a wall 
Of sooty rock, where the dark underworld 
In tunneled ways divided ; 

one entering 
Upon our left by owls and vampire-bats 
Inhabited, startling with impish hoot 
Or flapping wing, while cold and bloodless things 
Threatened with slimy ooze our steady feet. 
At last, in sudd'n blinding glare 

a caverned 
Court we reached, that echoed thro its vasty 
Concave with deaf 'ning din. Naught we at first 
Discerned, but when to fiery light our eyes 
Adjusted, we saw of men 

a huddled, 
Shouting horde, pushing their way, or fighting 
To stations round about, where on the walls 
Were vivid writ in blue electric flame 



198 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

The names of produce bought and sold. 
'Neath these 

Appeared their fluctuating figures, that leaped 
Magical to view, or in like manner 
Vanished, accordant with a sliding scale 
Of market values. The roaring 

concourse, 
(Turned from us in their maddened rush) were 

formed 
Neck-downward, human ; but with recoiling 
Shock I now perceived their heads shaped 

monstrous ; 
Some as prairie wolVes, others as foxes, 
And many, as the ruel-tusked wild boar; 
These frightful malformations by mental 
Attitudes projected. 

*'Thou seest in its insane reflection," said 
Gamaliel, "a branch of that pernicious 
Gambling, wearing in carnal life the guise 
Of lawful commerce, brazen 

frontleted 
As 'Produce and Stock Exchange.' 
No darker, 

Nor more disastrous phase of th' infernal 
Vice hath been by human greed devised; 

since 
Strikes its venomed fangs at root of public 
Weal. Would'st the record of its crimes behold? 
Lift up thine eyes!" 

High o'er our heads a trail of smoky filni 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 199 

The vasty dome enwreathed, that presently, 
Took shape, evolving spectral, yet distinct, 
A Cyclopean giant, brutal- jawed 
And satyr-hoofed, trampling o'er dead 

and dying 
Victims a path for his voracious greed ; 
Men wrecked and hopeless ; women and children 
Crying with out-stretched arms for bread 

or huddled 
Benumbed mid froz'n heaps, while frantic wretches 
Of both sexes grappled in bloody dust 
With the weir wolf of haggard want. 

This," sadly said my guide, "is but one page 
Of the dark history yearly upon 
Our globe enacted in name of lawful 
Enterprise. Here,, as on the planes above, 
All nationalities are represent 
'Neath one hell-blazoned banner/ 

'Human Greed' 
Lowest of gambling hells these dread purlieus, 
And since their dark activities disguise 
As public uses, their plane infernal 
Is that to hypocrites assigned. 
Visaged 

As beasts, each in his own deformity 
His soul's lost brotherhood to man proclaims." 

V. 

Leaving th' insane uproar by a lower 
Opening to the right, we now a mouldy 
Steep descended, conducting thro winding 



200 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Passages into a darksome region, 
Pestilent with vapors foul 

arising 
From fetid marches, where toads croaked dismal, 
And crawling creatures reared thro viscid slime 
Their loathsome heads. Picking our way, 

we came 
Unto the border of a Stygian lake, 
That stretched 'twixt frowning rocks, far out 

beyond 
The black horizon, its sluggish waters. 
The banks, with caverns honey-combed, gave forth 
A noisome stench,, like that from habitats 
Of rats and mice ; the cause whereof was soon 
Apparent ; as hordes of these disgusting 
Vermin rushed from their holes inquisitive, 
Or scoured the plains for plunder. 
Seen nearer, 

They, to my 'stonishment, were shown, not rats, 
As by their correspondence they at first 
Appeared, but predatory multitudes 
Of frightful hunchbacks, with fiery 

black eyes, 
And rodent teeth gleaming vindictive thro 
Whiskered mass of coarse grey hair, that 

bristled 
From the mouth on either side, like restless 
Antennae. 

"These," said Gamaliel, ''were in th' earth-life known 
As misers. Filthiest of planes infernal 
This society, save one, whither we pass 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 201 

In order due. There — pointing a sooty 
Cavern — we enter invisible." 

With our approach, a monster resembling 
A colossal wharf-rat sprang to the front, 
Fiercely resistant, but shrank as the cross 
I raised, venting in retreat 

a squeaking 
Outcry. The nauseous effluvium within 
A moment's dizzy faintness in me caused. 
But my watchful guide the foul atmosphere 
Soon purified. The cavern for a space 
Stretched mainly level ; then sharp 

descending, 
Wound intricate thro narrow passages, 
Conducting to a low-pitched chamber, where 
Cowered the dark occupants ; some scowling 
Belligerent : others hasting away 
To hide in holes and fissured 

crevices 
Bags of imaginary gold. Shivered 
All as with ague, whereof Gamaliel 
I questioned. 

'They tremble from a double cause ; partly 
Thro fear of spoliation, partly thro cold. 
No glowing warmth their shrunk'n hearts 

and bloodless 
Arteries pervades, save when pillaging, 
Or o'er their coins counting, since e'en self-love, 
That universal spark of vital heat. 
Is well nigh lost in greed of gold. 



202 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Yet, their 

Attenuated hold on life remains 

Thro use. Th' appointed Charons they of this 

Black lake receiving for such service small 

Returns, accepted in their currency 

As pence and shilling's." 

Ere reaching th' outer air a sudd'n faintness 
Seized me ; I staggered, and death-like moisture 
Gathered on my brovv^. Quickly Gamaliel 
Mine arm fast locked in his. 

"Lean thou on me ; 'twill strength impart. 
This sphere 
Affecteth thee as poison virulent. 



Let us go hence." 



VL 



Along a rotted, shaking pier,, that wheezed 
Beneath our tread, like feeble age vainly 
Imploring pity, or groaned like starving 
Wretches supplicating bread denied, stepped 
We aboard a black-hulled boat, 

by dwarfish 
Monster piloted, who watched us furtive 
Thro his grizzled mane, meanwhile safe distance 
Keeping, his flanged bristles moving restless 
The while — he rowed. Slowly, before the plowing 
Keel, parted the viscid waters, 

that 'gainst 
The gloomy craft tideless and sluggish lapped. 



I 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 203 

But from the cloud-piled west arose ere long 
A sullen muttering-, accompanied 
By flick'ring flashes that lit the jagged 
Rocks anon and o'er the lake 

in bluish 
Fire played, with meaning sinister. 
Then brake 

Hell's livid thunder ; gashing with flaming 
Scymetars the dark'ning dome, while shrieking 
Demoniac, to bellowed call, a mighty 
Wind loosed from the black horizon 

its dread 
Satanic forces, lashing t' abysmal 
Gulfs and raging billows th' affrighted deep, 
Where staggered, leaped and plunged, 

the Stygian boat. 
Like hunted creature, battling 'gainst hopeless 
Odds for life. Sudd'n mid elemental wrack 
And roar, a blinding, crashing peal, that seemed 
To rend th' infernal vault, wrenching 

from shore 
A blazing mass of black volcanic rock. 
That hurled aloft as 'twere a wisp of straw, 
Scarce missed in fiery descent our straining 
Craft, falling with frightful detonation. 
And hissing clouds of vapor sulphurous. 
Into the boiling 'strom ! 
The dark Charon, 

Till this cataclysmic moment sullen 
And unmoved, now 'neatli the dripping gunwale 
Trembling cowered, his glassy-staring eyes 
And livid lips the slavery of hell 



204 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

To ruling- fear bespeaking. 

The yielded 

Oars tossed in their stanchions wild, and the frail 

Boat, to forces pitiless surrendered, 

Pitched as an empty cockle-shell amid 

Devouring breakers, that snapped at her sides 

Like famished sea-wolves or hollowed 

monster 
Jaws, wherein mine eyes had read engulfing 
Doom, but I knew His angel guided, 
And 'neath us were the everlasting Arms. 
'Twas in this stormy tribunal of faith 
Triumphant my heavenly pilot 

stretched o'er 
The raging sea his hands, and in His name. 
Who spake, and it was done, who commanded, 
And it stood fast, bade the warring spirits 
Of the dark underworld : ''Be still !" 
The winds. 

And bolted thunders fled rebuked ; the madd'ned 
Waves sank powerless ; and a great calm befell, 
The while our awestruck boatman plied again 
His oars, and in our wake a shining trail 
Of silvery glory the lead'n lake 

illumined. 

Lifting my soul in grateful praise, I sang 
An old familiar hymn, fore'er in sweet 
Memory enshrined : sang, till the shores gave 
Back the stanzas, and the now distant pier 
Grew wonder-thronged : 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 205 

"Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, 
Pilgnm thro this barren laud, 
I am weak, but Thou art mighty, 
Hold me zvith thy pow'rfu! hand." 

VII. 

The boat with sudd'n shock ground on the landing- 
Harsh, but still the monster oarsman stirred not, 
And in the staring eyes a human light. 
Coupled as 'twere with vague remembrance, 

dawned. 
My guide from folds about his breast two coins 
Drew, one silver, th' other gold, and dropped them 
In his clam-like palms, saying: 

"The God of Jacob op'n thine eyes that thou 
May'st see !" 

Greedily, th' eager fingers clutched the coins. 
But instant let them fall, as tho they burned 
His flesh ; the while his bristled lips quivered 
Spasmodic, vainly essaying utterance. 

"Speak ! and thou wilt," my guide commanded ; 
*' Speak 
In the old forgott'n tongue thou would'st recall !" 

His unintelligible mutterings 
Grew more articulate, as to himself, 
In patois of the Polish Jew, hoarsely 
He whispered : 



206 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

"Th' old man ! He begged for bread ! I spurned 

him from 
My doorstep in the cold ! 'Twas a bitter 
Day!" (He hesitated forward) "Stop him! — 
I would the morsel give ! 'Tis but a crust, 
Yet more I cannot ! Pennies are ducats 
In the small !" 

Thus his mutterings continued, lapsing" 
As we stepped ashore to incoherent 
Jargon. Looking backward, we saw 

him stoop 
To gather up the fall'n coins. Lo ! they had 
Changed to common metal, stamped in device 
Infernal. 

"What meaneth that?" I questioned. 

"The coins I for his service paid were types 
Of heaven's Good and Truth. Unto his evil 
State antipodal, they burned his palms like 
Fiery embers, but by his touch pervert, 
Were instant to Satanic currency 
Transmute. Yet, contact with symbols heavenly 
Old memories and states forgot revived ; 
For naught the soul e'er felt or knew, 

no thought, 
Nor utterance, from infancy, to life's 
Last earthly sigh, but on that marvelous 
Electroscope is evermore inscribed ; 
And when the Father's wisdom 

so ordains, 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 207 

His angel draweth again the rusted 
Bolts,, leading us adown deserted halls, 
And long-forgott'n chambers, here, 

echoing 
With childish laughter, there, bright with happy 
Visions of life's spring-time, or sweet with love's 
Dead roses. Music, conditioned by God's 
Providence, is oft a pow'r in lowest 
Hell. Thus thy song, a heavenly 

messenger 
Of Love and Faith, smote on yon shattered harp, 
Till its dead chords gave faltering response." 

'Bless God, for love that will not let us go, 
Howe'er in our blind rebellious selfhood 
We struggle in His Hands!" 

vni. 

Leaving the lake, now shut from sight by dense 
Grey mist, we thro a rocky desert made 
Our way, along a threat'ning volcanic 
Belt, flame-swept, and thunder scarred, 

descending. 
At intervals precipitous defiles, 
Where from o'erhanging clifif the leopard stretched 
His lissom neck, the black vulture, fierce-beaked 
Pirate of th' infernal deep, spread 

shadowed 
Pinions, and anon, borne on the fetid 
Air, came angry bellowing, and vengeful 
Hisses, the cause whereof was presently 



208 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Apparent. Above a deeply scissured 
Gorge, whence came the sound of fierce 

contention, 
Two monsters, one a prodigious python, 
Steely-scaled, th' other, a frightful dual 
Shape, head and fore-claws dragon, 

hinder-parts 
Stallion, in deadly battle strove; while coiled 
On rocky ledge anear, a pythoness, 
Malignant rearing, the doubtful struggle 
Watched, venting at crucial moments a loud 
Vindictive hiss. Close round the hippogrifife 
Enwrapped, his dragon's armored head and claws 
Fast fettering, the python knotted strained. 
Thrice in the dust thus grappled, 

and grappling. 
Writhed they convulsive, when with prodigious 
Wrench, the dual monster freeing his mighty 
Head, crushed as an egg-shell 'twixt his saw-like 
Teeth th' assailant's skull. A few 

spasmodic 
Throes of the relaxed coils, and the exultant 
Victor bellowed forth his blood-bought triumph. 
While gliding swiftly from her vantaged ledge. 
The pythoness her frightful paramour 
Enfolded in voluptuous embrace. 

"Thou seest," said my guide,, "by law symbolic 
Illustrate, a combat 'twixt two demons 
For possession of a wanton. Females 
Of the hells — a direful host — 
occasion 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 209 

The greater part by far of all the endless 
Dissensions and sangumary conflicts 
Known therein ; for only adulterous 
Relations of the sexes in these spheres 
Exist. The foul spirits of this 

loathsome 
Plane are they whose ruling love is boundless 
Lascivious desire. No farther enter 
We here; for such th' infected atmospheres 
Beyond this gorge they would thy sanity 
Imperil. Let us now 

invisible 
The chasm cross, where nearer, tho in safety, 
We may the late combatants behold." 

Instant, we stood upon a point of rock, 

Whence the monsters — one in his life-blood pooled 

Unconscious — were plainly in human shape 

Revealed, but so abnormal and deformed 

They yet more frightful than their symbols seemed. 

Exceeding in blackness the cannibal 

Of Afric coast, their narrow, lustful eyes, 

Distorted features, and jagged 

tusk-like 
Teeth, th' awful debasement of creative 
Image to swinish brute proclaimed. Th' object 
Of inflamed contention e'en more loathsome 
Than her paramour appeared ; 

as woman 
Degraded is ever of sin's vasty 
Theater the most appalling spectacle ! 
Type in her white, unblemished purity, 
14 



210 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Of th' angelic church, how Lucifer-Hke 
Her fall ! O Christ ! I covered 

with my hand 
The rose upon my breast. 

"How," I inquired, "can such monstrosities 
Attraction mutual inspire?" 

He smiled. "They to each other and themselves 
Appear, not as we behold them, but through 
False lumen of their distempered fancies, 
And this by divine mercy of the Lord, 
Who for consociation thus 

provideth. 
These sooty crags, putrescent lakes, low lead'n 
Skies, and smoky mountains, disordered souls 
Perceive as beauty and delight." 

"Existeth unremitting such insane delusion?" 

"Nay, else like the fabled lotus-eaters. 
They would with their perverted phantasies 
Contented be. Therefore,, th' eternal love. 
That harmonizeth sense with state, 

holdeth 
At times truth's mirror to deformity. 
That out of the whirlwind God may speak." 

"How past our finite thought His ways ! 
Methinks 

The marvelous adjustment in this life 
Of man to his ruling love were ample 
Evidence alone of a divinelv 



T?IE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 211 

Human God, were all the countless myriads 
Of nature's attesting voices silent !" 

The while we thus communed, a sudd'n shadow 
O'er us swept, and a black vulture swiftly 
In the gorge descended, alighting near 
A crimson pool, that trickled 

from the scene 
Of carnage. Shuddering, I turned away, 
Our grewsome journey mute continuing. 
Presently, I of my guide inquired : 

"What nationality once claimed yon black 
Abhorrent monsters ?" 

"Naught that their inky visages suggest. 
The males were fair-haired Norsemen, the female 
A French courtesan ; and in their little 
Day accounted comely. Let us pass on." 



IX. 



O'er crusted lava-beds, thro trails befouled 
By poisonous gases and thick volcanic 
Bitumen, we cautious the mountain-side 
Descended. Anear the base a vasty 
Bouldered rock our further way 

obstructed. 
'Gainst this my guide his upraised hand smote firm. 
Whereat the granite mass with shudd'ring groan 
Prodigious yawned,, disclosing thro fiery 



212 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Issuance a gulf profound. 

"Enter we here?" 

*'Aye. 'Twixt upper and nether hells this gulf 
Is fixed, impassable from either side, 
Save by pow'r delegate to heaven's angels. 
Give me thine hand." 

Now jx>ised in empty air we slowly sank 
'Mid rayless, suffocating darkness, while 
With returning shock and roar the pond'rous 
Jaws above us closed. Down, down, down, 

sinking 
Thro what seemed endless night and primal void ; 
Then a smoky twilight, spreading upward, 
And we stood at last within a vasty 
Cavern, connecting as my guide 

forewarned. 
With countless of like evil order through 
Passages and by-ways labyrinthine. 
Wherein unwary wanderers were lost. 
Induction heretofore to these dread spheres 
Rang hideous with noise infernal ; 

but here 
The demon crew in silence sinister 
Their direful arts invisible deployed. 
As deeper inward we progressed, a host — 
Apparently of wand'ring stars — flashed sudd'n 
Into view, whereat I started, paused. 

''Halt not," my guide advised, ''save when 
I halt, 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 213 

And move not till I advancing motion 

Make. These flitting lights are evil spirits 

Thus disguised, and signs to heaven's instructed 

Of pitfalls near. Upon a time. 

This kind 

Infested grievously the spirit world 

And thence th' earth,, bodies of men with wicked 

Arts obsessing. Of these the 'Legion,' whom 

Jesus cast into the swine. Ended their 

Infestations with His second 

advent, 
When to their own foul sphere expelled they now 
Beyond its limitations pass not." 

'How look these snares, that here our way beset ?*' 

'To eyes that see not from angelic light, 
E'en as the solid earth whereon we stand ; 
But to God's messengers, they are perceived 
As hazy shadows, not unlike 

the pale 
Penumbra cast, when passeth the wan moon 
'Twixt earth and sun. One on my left lieth, 
And presseth thy foot scarce an ell's measure 
Of another. Would'st with mine eyes behold 
These pitfalls and their vile inventors?" 

'Aye." 

"Then pause a moment here, and stir not till 
I give thee sign." 



214 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

He touched mine eyelids, and a bluish light 

The ghastly scene illumined, showing th' earth 

thick sown 
With hellish snares, while roving th' air headless, 
And trunkless, foul masses of wiry black 
Hair, framing vindictive eyes and tusk-like 
Teeth, haunted us malevolent. My breath 
Suspended, and my veins seemed turned to ice. 

*'A11 spirits," said my guide, "are images 
Of whatsoe'er their ruling love. The vile 
Monstrosities thou dost behold, 

unto 
A certain class of fiends belong, whose chief 
Delight is to pervert in human souls 
Th' ultimates of divine order, thereby 
Insanity producing. In God's great 
Madhouse, none darker, nor more dangerous 
Exist, save the dread bands who occupy 
The lowest deep. 'Tis now imperative, 
I shut them from thy sight." 

Again he touched mine eyes, when as before 
The spirits roved as wand'ring stars. 

"Link firm thine arm in mine," he caution gave, 
"And falter not. Thy way Omniscient Love 
Directeth." 

X. 

Thro haunted chambers, intricate with paths 
^Misleading, and fraught with conjurations 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 215 

Dire, our ghastly way we wended, 

till gleamed 
On my sight a blood-red disc, the tunneled 
Terminus of light and liberation. 
Another passage, dark and perilous, 
Wherein I dizzied, and my sense swam ; 
But guidance firm upheld me. Then, a steep 
Slippery ascent, while the long 

silence 
Brake in ribald jeers, and the foul caverns, 
Echoing with loud vindictive curses, 
Behind us sank in blinding glare. 
My guide, 

Watchful and tender, drew me in the great 
Shadow of a fire-scarred clifT, till faintness 
And momentary blindness passed. 
Our way 

Skirted for a space the frowning headland, 
But sharply now deflected thro a deep 
Volcanic scissure, that bellowed beneath 
Our tread, shooting anon from creviced rock 
Pale, bluish tongues of fork-ed flame, 

that fouled 
Th' air with vapors sulphurous. Whence, methought 
This garish livery of earth and sky? 
But e'er my lip the question framed. 
I stood 

Transfixed before its answer, a scenic 
Vision of magnificence, appalling ! 
A raging ocean of devouring flame, 
Leaping like maddened coursers to th' east-wind's 



216 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Vengeful lasH, flung all its hell-born 

fury 
'Gainst rock-battlemented base of burning 
Mountains, whose Titanic throats hurled lurid 
Lightnings, and fiercely coruscating wrath 
Defiant to the Plutonian heavens ! 
Thence 

Fiery volumes of infernal smoke writhed 
Like stupendous pythons across the dome, 
Or trailing downward lapped the seething flood, 
Where scaly monsters, such as old fable 
Breeds from flame, reared direful, lashing iron-thewed 
Th' awful chaldron. 

*'Oh ! for a brush and canvas !" 

'Thou hast better than thy wish," Gamaliel 
Responded. "The wondrous picture liveth 
In thy soul's camera, and shall beneath 
Thy pencil glow whene'er thou wilt, 

losing 
No jot nor tittle of its transcendent 
Splendor ; albe't that thou here beholdest 
Hath neither substance nor reality. 
Existing as a phantasmal shadow 
Of the final deep, whither we direct 
Our way. Give me thine hand." 

Like two great birds of prehistoric time, 
Sailing in fiery silhouette God's fifth 
Creative day, we skimmed th' upper air, nor 
Paused, till coasting anear a mountain slope, 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 217 

My guide gave signal to alight. 

Here strange 

Amorphous creatures, part gyr-vulture, part 

Vampire, circled above us greedy-eyed ; 

And reared from slumbrous coil in fissured rock. 

The deadly cockatrice with venomed fang 

And claw our right of way disputed; but 

Brief, the baleful menace ; for at 

my guide's 
Imperious command, the great ridge, belike 
Some monstrous saurian, oped wide its caverned 
Jaws, and ere reclosing, I found myself 
Once more in rayless dark engulfed, 

dropping 
Thro night and nothingness in what would seem 
A bottomless abyss. Somewhere a cry, 
As 'twere a sentry's challenge, rang hollow- 
Thro the void, acknowledged by my heavenly 
Pilot with clear-called countersign. 
Downward, 

And still downward ! the darkness seemed curdling 
About my heart, stifling its pulsations. 
Presently, another signal, answered 
As before. Where were we? Whence the voices? 
Was this a vacuous interior approach 
To lowest deep? or voyaged we 

thro pathless 
Planetary space, hailed in the transit 
By spirits orbital? E'en as my thought 
Th' awful question pondered, my feet touched earth : 
And now, with sharply in-drawn breath, I stood 



218 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

At portal of the dread profound. 

The land — 

If such the lifeless desert, stretching from 

Rim to rim, of dusky-lined horizon — 

Lay like a dead Titan, staring starkly 

Upward, in unbrok'n silence, 'neath the palled 

Canopy of night and doom. 

"Thou seest," said Gamaliel, *'the vestibule 
Of final Hell. There, beyond the sky-mark, 
Lieth a mighty city, the fortressed 
Stronghold of a direful realm, 

whose evil 
Arts, and God defying sorceries, would scale 
The very heavens, but that th' Omnipotent 
Hath limitations fixed, impassable. 
Thither, 'tis His will, we journey." 



XI. 



The while thro twilight gloorri and desert-sands 
We passed, I glancing upward saw floating 
High in air what seemed the tattered fragments 
Of night's dissolving mist ; but clearer now 
Discerned, a ghastly company 

revealed 
Of fleshless human forms, trailing the void. 
Methought my soul to horrors' shock immune ; 
But chilled my veins, as shuddering I spake ; 

'Whence, this vast spectral caravan?*' 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 219 

" Tis that thou oft hath witnessed here, th' ever 
StartHng apparition of symbolic 
Mirage. Such, the flaming sea 

so lately 
Passed, that lashed by scaly monsters evils 
And falses in activity portrays ; 
But as we deeper penetrate this sphere. 
Psychic conditions are in this phantom 
Army of spiritual dead reflected." 

"Tell me of this mighty city, whither 
We journey. Meanest a vasty stronghold 
Of cavernous abodes, such as we see 
Throughout these spheres?" 

*'Nay, the spirits of this final deep dwell 
In a fantastic kingdom, by wicked 
Arts and direful sorceries devised." 

"How may this be? I comprehend thee not." 

"Thou know'st the story of our ancient race ; 
That early sovereignty of lofty souls. 
Who in creation's morn lived near to God, 
And drank the wine of wisdom's immortelles 
With angels. Of how, dizzied 

with knowledge, 
They blasphemous God's holy truth t* evil 
Use perverted, aspiring to create 
And reign in heaven, and how by presumptuous 
x-\mbition fell that shining galaxy 
Of morning stars, proud Lucifer." 



220 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

A shade of poignant pity swept his face, 
As indicating- with his hand the vast 
Entombment, he added : "Of this profound. 
Are they!" 

Overwhelmed with th' astounding thought, I mute 
Upon the speaker fixed my startled eyes. 

"These God-defiant spirits continue 
Here their evil thaumaturgic science, 
Potent in all that doth Satanic hate 
And purpose serve, tho haply now to earth 
Unknown. Thro such unlawful 

agencies 
Construct they an illusive realm, conceived 
By fancy, or evoked from th' electric 
Film that interlieth 'twixt external 
Nature and the spirit-world, 

where all earth's 
Vanished voices sleep resilient, and forms 
Of creative thought in dust of ages 
Crumbled relive in shadows. These empty 
Shells of life's resounding sea deceitful 
Magic doth infil with seeming- 
substance, 
So like th' infinite, that only a touch 
Of truth divine, or inter-probing shaft 
Of heaven's light, their false interiors reveal. 
Also, themselves to beauty they 

transform, 
Reigning, according to thaumaturgic 
vSkill, as gods and demi-gods. Such th' evil 



Tilll SUPREME ADVENTURE. 221 

Sorcerers of Pharaoh's day, whose deadly 
Sciences, commit t' archives of the g"reat 
Egyptian library, were of 

divine 
Providence destroyed. To one chief city 
Of this direful realm — its nave and potent 
Capital — God's mandate hath our journey 
Limited, and the dim lights now pricking 
The western verge announce our goal.'' 

Nearer approached, the shining points became 
A brilliant zone, that ever to vision 
Broad'ning evolved ere long a starry sea, 
Outlining in glittering perspective 
A colossal dragon. 

"Thou seest in yon monstrous shape," Gamaliel 
Instructed, ''the city's magic symbol, 
And crest armorial ; also a sceptered 
Pow'r in demonology, evoking 
Agencies infernal." 

XII. 

With our advance the symbol disappeared 

In scenic splendors, such as we wond'ring 

Read of cities now but dust. 

A mighty 

River, sentineled beyond the vision's 

Range by stately palms, and spanned by massive 

Archways dragon-guarded, rolled at our feet, 

And on th' opposing shore th' old, old city. 



222 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Further in time removed than 

Nineveh 

Or Tyre, repeated in the wat'ry deep 

Its dazzHng effulgence, and stupendous 

Architecture. Not here, the lead'n concave 

That hitherto our journey marked, 

but blazed 
Th' azure firmament with constellated 
Glories, and central o'er the city shone 
Great Draco. No word of mouth I needed 
T' instruct me that on the lotus-tangled 
Marge I stood of Egypt's hoary river, 
Gazing adown the vanished 

centuries 
Upon a monument of man's inspired 
Art, whereof no record nor least vestige 
Doth on bereav-ed earth remain. 
And this, 

Was necromancy! Oh! pow'r Promethean, 
That reared from ages immemorial 
This regal daughter of old Nile ! I heard 
The river's lapping sob ; the sigh and swish 
Of wand'ring breezes, freighted 

with perfumed 
Lotus; the rustle of palm and swaying reeds 
That etched in trickling shadows the moonlit 
Marshes ; the mating bittern's lonely cry ; 
The flutter and hoarse pipe 

of drowsy birds 
From in-drawn shutters of the sensitive 
Mimosa ; and afar, as hum and roar 



THE SUPREME ADJ'ENTURE. 223 

Of madly rushing waters, th' old city's 
Ceaseless turbulence. Could this be 

wholly 
Phantasie? Robbed not these lawless bandits 
Of th' underworld, more than discarded shells 
Of spirit's border sea? Had these wondrous 
Creations no spark of heaven's infinite? 

As tho I spake, Gamaliel responded. 

"Would'st tear the mask from these appearances 
Deceitful? Would'st see by touch of heaven's truth 
A black drop of the dragon's blood?" 

He plucked a lotus, and the long-stemmed flow'r 
Writhed in his firm hand, a hissing serpent! 
I shrank aghast ! He breathed upon 't, whereat 
The foul creation vanished in blackened 
Smoke ! Then smote he with his foot 

contemptuous 
A gnarl-ed root, that instant gaped apart 
In two great jaws, a monstrous crocodile 
Revealed. Gamaliel smiled. 

''Be careful how thou approachest! Now, smite 
It with thy cross!" 

Lo ! at contact with the Christian's holy 

Standard, shriveled th' audacious counterfeit 

To fragment of volcanic rock ! 

My guide. 

His face all luminous as with white flame. 

Now to the city turned. 



224 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

"Come ! Let us go up into this fortressed 
Habitation of the dragon! For God 
Hath even now His purpose to me made known!" 
Then, with pathetic gesture and inspired 
Voice, he cried: 

"Alas ! how art thou fall'n, O' Lucifer, 
Son of the morning! For thou hast declared, 

'I will ascend into the heavens. My throne 
Will I exalt above the stars of God !' " 

''Howl O Gate! Cry O City! 
for the day 
Of the Lord is at hand! 
Stand flow ivith thine enchantments, 
And the multitude of thy sorceries, 
If so he thou shalt prevail! Behold, 
They shall be as stubble! Desolation 
Shall come upon thee suddenly. 
For month of God hath spoken it.'' 

XHL 

Scarce from his lips th' ancient denunciation 
Of the prophet fell, when by the Spirit 
Borne aloft we left the soughing river 
In our wake, passed o'er the griffin-guarded 
Walls unseen, alighting now 

on shining 
Dome of a stupendous temple, devote 
Unto the reigning king or sorcerer. 
This thaumaturgic nave twelve magic pow'rs 
Sentineled, appearing as twelve seal-ed 
Dragons, pacing restless the fountained court, 



THE SUPREME ADl'EXTURE. Ill 

And breathing flame. Serene 

in angelic 
Stronghold, my 'stonished eyes the vision swept 
Of mighty achievements in constructive 
Art, the key whereof is lost to man ! Where — 
O patient searcher of earth's 

crumbled forms 
For traces of thy brother's vanished hands — 
These precious secrets of dead centuries? 
Where, inexorable Time, that stayeth 
Not nor spareth, tho earth wail 

unto thee 
For her treasures, yon vistaed avenues 
Of sphynx and obelisk, gleaming thro palm 
And silv'ry fountains to the misty verge? 
Where, yon pillared and statued theater 
Waving with banners, and floral 

garlands, 
That echoed to tilt and tourney and flying 
Chariot, when Hercules was young? 
Ah ! Where, 

Despoiled and bereav-ed Love, thy hanging 
Gardens of delight, drowsing the dreamy 
Air with orange-bloom and roses? 
A sudd'n 

Burst of martial music, followed by shouts 
And clam'rous applause, brake on my rev'rie 
Harsh. 

"Behold!" exclaimed Gamaliel, "the bloody 
Beelzebub, and his infernal princes !" 

I looked, and lo ! a mighty multitude. 
15 



226 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Greeting with cheers and homage worshipful 
A brilHant cavalcade of royal guards, 
Numbering six-hundred horsemen, that rode 
On either side the spacious 

thoroughfare, 
And 'twixt them the reigning pow'rs and princes 
Of this direful knigdom. Th' imposing staff, 
Resplendent in silver-scal-ed armor, 
Lithe as serpent-skins, and bearing lances 
Tipped with magic fire, sat flame-eyed 

stallions. 
Black as their demon dam, dark sorcery, 
That rearing with gold-shod hoofs imperious, 
And neighing shrill thro vicious teeth bared 

ghastly. 
Smote with chill horror my appall-ed soul. 
Smiled gracious down upon his worshippers, 
From gold'n chariot by fiery dragons drawn, 
The sceptered blasphemer ; and at his side. 
In dazzling pomp surpassing 

Sheba's queen. 
The cruel courtesan and witch malign, 
Foul Hecate, show'red on th' appalling throng 
Her evil amulets. Thus wound onward. 
Like colossal python, the glittering 
Procession, till reaching th' amphitheater, 
Now teeming with impatient hordes, 

the august 
Body their magic equerry dismissed, 
And 'mid prolonged ovation ascended 
Th' imperial pavilion. 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 227 

''What meaneth this?" I asked. 

A look of scorn, mingled with pain, passed o'er 
His watching eyes. 

"The cruel Beelzebub must be amused !" 

''The portals thou observest of the Grand 
Palaestra ope westward to an-hungered 
Or maddened beasts ; eastward, to their hapless 
Victims !" 

XIV. 

Scarce died the uproar, when as returning tide, 
That sweeps with swollen crest its former mark, 
It brake again ; the while to signal trump 
And rolling drum portentous twelve 

blood-red 
Stallions — hell-gendered — burst with cyclonic 
Fury in th' arena, each a naked 
Thong-bound victim bearing, one a woman ! 
Thrice round the hippodrome the demon beasts 
Sped frantic, endeavoring 

with dizzy 
Leaps and tortuous gyrations to expel 
Their burdens ; or failing this, attempting 
By backward toss of frothing jaws to tear 
Them limb from limb. Goaded now by efforts 
Unavailing, the equine fiends 

on haunches 
Reared, and with slirill neighings, such as no earth-foaled 



228 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Steed e'er sounded, in combat deadly closed, 
Hoof ringing hard on hoof, thud answering 
With crimson spurt to thud and brutal scream, 
To scream ; the gloating populace 

meanwhile 
Cheering vocif'rous. Horror-sick, I turned 
Away, and covering my face essayed 
To shut from mental vision the ghastly 
Consummation. "O Christ!" methought, "hast Thou 
Too turned away Thy face?" 

"Nay," spake Gamaliel who read my fainting 
Soul. "Who reigneth supreme in light reigneth 
Supreme in darkness ! Lift up thine eyes !" 

Oh ! miracles of miracles ! A thing 
Incredible, mocking e'en as I gazed 
Attesting sense ! The frenzied brutes, 

create 
Of infernal sorcery, were instant 
To elemental flame resolved, while safe. 
Untouched by fatal hoof or demon teeth, 
The liberated pris'ners trembling 

stood. 
Counter-illumed amid the blazing pyres 
By a great Hand outstretched upon the heavens, 
Effulgent ! Meantime hell's myrmidons rushed 
To and fro, seeking like rapine-thwarted 
Wolves th' unseen source of their 

discomfiture. 
Alarums pealed ! drums rolled ! Blue signals flashed, 
And tides of vengeful devils surged, hasting 



TlUi SUPREME ADVENTURE. 229 

To swell the dread influent hosts, marshaled 

To mandate of their demon kini;-. 

And now, 

'Neath vivid search-light on the city turned, 

Our lofty station was revealed. Instant, 

Signaled by uplifted wand, six hundred 

Lances deadly aimed fell like 

extinguished 
Rockets at our feet. Thrice, and thrice again, 
Abortive hissed the direful projectiles. 
Then, baffled fury, Plutonian lightnings 
Thundered, gashing the fiery vault into 
An hundred hells, whence issued 

infernal 
Forms of invocation, that all vainly 
With venomed fang or scorpion barb assailed. 
Below, the guarding dragons paced, 

lashing 
With frightful bellowings their scaly coils. 
While shook the great thaumaturgic temple 
From base to dome with issuance of pow'rs 
Infernal. Serene, amid hell's thunder, 
Towered the Messenger of God. 
Lifting 

To heaven his face all glorified with truth's 
Divine, he silently stretched forth his hands ! 
O Thou, whose holy ministers of grace 
Are at Thy will a flaming sword, who shall 
Their vested pow'r withstand? 
As withered leaves 

That mock the cyclone's devastating path, 
As bubble in the hot sirocco's breath, 



230 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

As darkness before creative fiat, 

So, in that fateful gesture, vanished hell's 

Mighty mimicry ! 



When transient blindness from my vision passed, 
I stood on summit of a fire-scarred crag, 
O'erawed, bewildered, yet tranquil withal, 
As child who feels in whelming thunder-shock 
His father's clasping hand. Beyond 

the black'ned 
Ruins of volcanic rock, an arid 
Desert stretched, such as one pictures of some 
Out-burned spacial orb, extinguished. 

'Th' awful desolation thou beholdest," 
Said Gamaliel, "is all that remaineth 
Of hell's phantom city, its deceitful 
Glories, and God-defiant lawlessness ! 
These, the grewsome bones, whereon Satanic 
Necromancy its marvels reared.'' 

As one who from horrific dream awakes, 
I stared upon th' incinerated waste, 
Seeking in vain some vestige of the vast 
Pricked bubble ; some traces of th' awful scene 
Burned in my memory with penciled fire. 

'Oh ! mighty spirits, of a day 

inspired ! 
Oh ! pow'rs perverted and profaned ! Methinks 
Th' ocean's briny bed were all too shallow 
For tears th' angels weep o'er earth's quenched stars !' 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 231 

"VVould'st thou the true estate and 'vironment 
Behold of these rebellious sorcerers, 
Stript now of their enchantments? Nay — distress 
We not by our presence ; enter we there 
Invisible." 

XV. 

Descending- the cliff,, we skirted westward 
A sooty ridge, that near its terminus 
Yawned in a prodigious chasm, the beetling- 
Boundaries whereof were native 

ramparts 
Of black basaltic rock, that smoked and rocked 
With late volcanic scissure. No access 
To this vast profound appeared, yet thither 
Doubtless led our way. Ere I the question 
To my guide referred, he on my shoulder 
Laid his hand. 

*We enter here," he said. 

A moment, on the dizzy brink we stood, 
Then sweeping bird-like downward, alighted 
In a desert fastness, where anon, through 
Twilight gioom, cries doleful quavered, 

whether 
Of human voices, or distant prowling 
Beast, discerned I not. Beetled to such height 
This stronghold, a vulture on the summit 
Wheeling showed lesser than a wind-tossed leaf ! 
Yet what restraint, I mused, were height or depth 
Or fortressed barriers to spirit powrs? 



232 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

"None," answered Gamaliel, to whom my thought 
Was known. "They are but representatives 
Of power, and apart from Divine fiat, 
Binding e'en less than seven green wythes th' unshorn 
Samson." 

Proceeding more to westward, the dismal 
Sounds, distinctly now perceived as human 
Voices distressful, led to a hood-like 
Cavern, whence thro foul cadaver 

issued 
Wailing cries, mingled with maledictions 
Fierce and vengeful. My guide, the fetor 
Cleansed as erst, bidding me follow. 
Silent, 

And invisible, we here a mouldy 
Passage-way precipitous descended, 
Reaching a vasty underworld, that stretched 
Beyond the vision in a pestilent 
Morass, by lowest forms 

inhabited 
Of slimy life, and deep'ning to darkness 
On the rayless verge, that seemed th' appalling 
Borderland of night eternal ! 
No hint 

Of feebly budded blade, nor mockery 
Of leaf pricked here or there the hideous 
Expanse ; but nature, ever maternal. 
Striving as 'twere with blind, forgott'n, 

impulse 
Toward genesis of plant and tree, produced 
From her abortive womb a forestry 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 233 

Of giant fungi, that in its bloated 
Pallor sin's loathly leprosy proclaimed. 
At roots of these lay prone, or coiled, 

or writhed, 
What in the gloom prodigious serpents seemed : 
But as they reared white-bellied from the mire, 
I saw, O God ! their heads, tho sharply drawn 
To lines ophidian, were human! 
My limbs 

Trembled ; a clammy dew my brow o'erspread, 
And consciousness had darkly from me passed 
But that my guide's supporting arm upbore 
Me from the scene unto the plane above. 

"Methought to spare thee this,," he gently said, 
"But leadeth thy mission to the journey's 

End. Closeth here our direful errantry ; 

And well hast thou thy faith and courage proved. 

Th' appalling debasement thou hast 
witnessed 

Of man's human is not, as doth appear, 

The punishment of arbitrary pow'r, 

But th' unfailing sequence of eternal 

Correspondent law, to thee familiar." 

''See they themselves and their environment. 
As to our eyes revealed?" 

"Aye; since to their true estate they needs must 
Be aroused. When humbled and horror-smit 
They for deliv'rance cry, divine mercy 
Doth provide they shall again in human 



234 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Form appear, tho sentenced in these pris'n walls 
To daily servitude." 

''Remain they long incarcerate?" 

" 'Tis as Omniscient Wisdom doth decree." 

"Recur these judgments oft?" 

"Nay, such as this hath not been chronicled, 
By cosmic registry, for six-score years." 

''What meanest by 'cosmic registry?'" 

"All mighty upheavals of the causal 
World are by responsive planetary 
Change recorded. Great spiritual judgments 
In the one are in th' other 

seismic shocks, 
Such as vast territories have engulfed. 
No wave that mounts upon this shore 
Pauseth, till it breaks on bounds terrestrial." 

"Alas ! for earth ! When shall her sorrows cease, 
And sin be swallowed up in victory?" 

"Rest thee in peace ; for as thy soul liveth 
Shall we in God's eternity that day 
Behold. Let us depart." 

"Return we by the way we came?" 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 235 

"Nay, our dark pilgrimage is o'er. From this 
Profound a secret exit openeth, known 
Only to heaven-appointed messengers. 
Give me thine hand." 

XVL 

Next moment a fresh pure air, reviving, 
Fanned my cheek ; my feet pressed tender-budded 
Sod ; and spring's green mantle wrapped 

the fair young 
World, that laughed and sang and shook its blossomed 
Petals down in pearly rain for very 
Ecstacy of life. My senses blissful 
Swam ! Where were w^e ? Could this blest land 

be heaven? 
Nay, one who would for me a paradise 
Of any common field create 

rejoiced 
Not with me here,, and heaven without her were 
Inconceivable. 

"Not far art thou from heaven," said Gamaliel, 
Who followed me with happy smiling eyes. 

"These girdling mountains thine own blue Highlands 
Are, and this thy wedding day !" 

I caught his hands, and held them close, while shook 
And thundered thro my soul the magic words : 
"Thy wedding day/' E'en as he spake,, 
o'erflushed 
Th' eastern hills with rosy radiance, and thrilled 



236 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

Th' air with music, faint as in dream, of choirs 
Invisible. A wondrous light about 
Us shone, wherein I saw Gamaliel's face 
As 'twere transfigured. 

"Beloved," he said, ''th' hour of thy heavenly 
Transition is anear; but ere we part, 
So soon to meet again, I in His Name, 
Who hath thee to His holy priesthood chos'n, 
Do hands of ordination on thee lay." 

Bowing my head, I sank upon my knees. 

''As thou from angels hast received, so teach. 
To blind and unbelieving earth. 

'Write,' saith 
The Lord, 'What in the spirit thou hast seen 
And heard.' For this,, thy direful pilgrimage, 
To spheres that know Him not. Tho in descent 
To lower planes and denser atmospheres 
Th' inbreathed fires of thy heavenly script burn low. 
Enough shall live to light the way to Truth's 
Eternal mountains. God's grace be with thee !" 

XVII. 

When I arose I was alone and, while 
Of change unconscious hitherto, 

beheld 
Myself in wedding garments glistening 
As snow; my feet in jeweled sandals shod, 
And o'er my head a radiance of nimbused 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 237 

Glory. Now rang th' echoed hills 

with music 
Triumphal ; the vaulted azure rifted 
Effulgent ; and where the shining pathway 
Smote the verge, a flaming chariot appeared, 
By twelve white coursers drawn, 

caparisoned 
In kingly gold and purple. Tossing plumed 
Heads on high, wide nostrils quivering, they paused 
Beside me, all restless champing bitted 
Gold, and stamping the flow'r bespangled mead. 
Impatient for their homeward journey. 
Twelve 

Naked cherubs, types of heaven's innocence. 
Hovered attendant, torches hymeneal 
Bearing, that trailed th' incensed woods with wreathed 
Clouds auroral. Along the way flow'rs burst 
Spontaneous thro velvet turf 

in honeyed 
Greeting, and circling o'er head two mated 
Milk-white doves symbolic led in orbits 
Rhythmical. Thus went I forth to meet her! 
Ere long, oh ! glorious fulfilment of love's 
Prophecy, the city's folded gates swung 
Wide ! A sweep thro bow'red fragrance 

and plashing 
Fountains : a crimson splendor of latticed 
Roses ; then a reminiscent breath faint 
Thro her silk'n chamber wafted, as I clasped 
Her to my breast. O star of holy love's 
Transcendent beauty! O glowing wine of Hfe, 



238 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 

One ruby drop whereof, were 

recompense. 
For anguished years ! The bridal robe, a fihii 
As 'twere of light and dew, clung shimmering 
About her, jewel-cinctured; and flowed from 
Tiara of precious stones, in order 
Of the Holy City set, a pure white 
Radiance, type of her Maid'n soul, that 

veil-like. 
To jeweled feet her grace ineffable 
Enfolded. As on the heavenly vision 
I raptured gazed, a note that was not sigh, 
Yet plaintive as wind-harp to caressing 
Zephyr breathes, fluttered its vermeil gateway 
Thro. 

''Whence," I whispered, "this little trespasser 
On love's domain ? Didst miss me, dear ?" 

"Misseth fond earth her lover sun, when sinks 
His g"lowing chariot below the dark'ning verge? 
Yet, other shadows did my soul o'ercast. 
Strange visions, and wild'ring dreams 

oppressed me ; 
And once — she caught her breath — methought I saw 
Thee whelmed in rain of fire ! Weeping, I prayed ; 
Then, deep within my troubled soul I seemed 
To hear: ' 'Tis I. Be not afraid.' 
But now, 

The mystic night, whate'er its meaning, hath 
Forever past, and folded to thy breast. 
My falt'ring faith its lamp of life relumes." 



THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 239 

'Beloved, whom God created one ne'er know 
Divided pulses. Together, by fixed 
Eternal law, the currents of our being- 
Flow, and whatsoe'er my spirit shadows 
Its pale penumbra casts on thine. 
When from 

Our lover's tryst we parted, the Master's 
Service did require, I with His angel 
Messenger go forth upon a journey 
Dark and direful. Not meet for this blest day 
The story ; but in some love-enchanted 
Bow'r of heaven, when droppeth on thy 
Gentle 

Soul God's perfect peace, I'll draw thee, dearest. 
To my breast, and in thine ear th' errantry 
Unfold. Hark! to the restless, tramping steeds. 
That my impatient yearnings sound for heaven 
And thee! Come!" 



C 82 89 .iii 



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